Thanks to volunteer Gary for his regular Tuesday report...

A cold blustery wind, but I will put up with that for a look at the sun at last. A truly sparkling morning, but unfortunately the current batch of high tides had held up the rain water and was overtopping the banks of the Arun and was filling up the brooks. All hides were accessible but this may change.

Bullfinches once again looked so bright and clean in the…

Thanks to Gary for this week's update...

Pulborough Brooks came up trumps again today. It started well with a song thrush belting out its song in the car park, and then good views of the dartford warbler and I hadn't left the visitor centre yet. Bullfinches were much in evidence down the zigzag (and generally around the reserve), at West Mead a mixed flock of redwing and fieldfare were feeding at the waters edge…

Due to a scheduled day-long power cut in the area the Visitor Centre will be shut all day on Monday 11 January.

The nature trail will be open as normal but there will not be access to any of the visitor centre facilities, including the toilets.

We're sorry for any inconvenience or disappointment this may cause.

A belated posting from Gary's usual Tuesday rounds....

At last the forecast was for a dry day (they obviously don't know about the Tuesday rain curse). Jon W. informed me that two Bewick swans were on the South Brooks, but I arrived five minutes too late; not off to a good start! A couple of bullfinches brightened things up and many birds could be seen in the air over the South Brooks including a large flock of black…

Thanks to Gary for enduring the  rain and for his report and photos...

The curse of the Tuesday rain struck again; this time with added wind. At least it was a southerly wind making it quite warm for a December day – unfortunately this meant it was blowing straight into West Mead and Winpenny hides making viewing fairly unpleasant. At West Mead, black-tailed godwits were huddled together and you could pick out two ruff…

Just a quick message to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and to let you know when we'll be open over the festive period.

Christmas Eve  (24 Dec) - we'll be shutting the Visitor Centre (including shop, café and toilets) at 3 pm.  The reserve and car park will be closed at 6 pm

Christmas Day (25 Dec)  - the Visitor Centre, trails and car park will be closed all day

Boxing Day (26 Dec)  - The gates to the…

Two reports in one from volunteer Gary.

On an early dark Monday morning I joined the wardens and volunteers for the monthly Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS). Allocated Amberley Wildbrooks (West) with Laurie we began by having a quick look near Amberley Castle for bewick swans; no luck there, but great views of a barn owl drifting silently by the castle wall. A bat seemed to mob it but it was probably just a coincidence that…

One of the many perks of working at Pulborough Brooks is that I can buy myself tasty treats from the cafe. So for lunch today I tried out a toastie using the new bloomer bread that we’re having delivered from Jenger’s craft bakery, based just up the road from us in Billingshurst.

In my toastie was Red Tractor farm assured cheese and some of the RSPB’s own chutney – we’ve got three different kinds and I chose…

Just a few ideas from the Pulborough Brooks team to help you with your Christmas shopping...

We managed to persuade Lois to model some of the lovely new range of scarves. At £14.99 each they make a great stocking filler, or you can buy 2 for £20.

We’ve also added to our range of puppets and these adorable sets mean you could be putting on your own puppet shows throughout the festive season.

Just a quick post to share this fabulous photo of the hen harrier who has been hunting at Pulborough Brooks over the past week or so.  Thanks to Gareth for sharing it!

Our blogs of late have been rather full of sightings of the bigger birds; the speedy peregrines pursuing prey, the graceful short-eared owls quartering over the river bank and even the noisy Canada geese flying in skeins across the sky. But a couple of photos sent in by volunteer Anne prompted me to think about some of our smaller birds...

This handsome fellow is the goldfinch, sometimes known as the ‘seven-coloured…

Today's (Tuesday) report starts the day before with a brief visit on Monday evening to see if I could catch sight of a woodcock. As luck would have it, as I was loitering in the car park (no comments please!) Two woodcock put in a very brief show as it was getting dark. Tuesday was certainly a day of two halves – dull and cloudy to start with lots of small birds, and a beautiful sunny afternoon almost devoid of small…

Friday 4^th December - Thanks to volunteers Phil and John for their report and to Phil for the photos.

I’m a firm believer that there is no such thing as a poor day at Pulborough Brooks, whatever the weather – only good days and special days. This was to be a special one.

 The reserve can boast an impressive array of raptors, some of which can be seen frequently and others much less so. On a good day you might…

If you are looking for a little festive cheer on a grey day, pop in and enjoy one of our traditional Christmas turkey lunches.  Mel and the café team will be roasting turkeys and potatoes right the way through until Christmas Eve so you can indulge any lunchtime (we serve hot lunches from 12 noon til 2.30 pm)

If you're vegetarian (or just don't fancy turkey) don't worry we'll still be serving a great range of home…

Thanks to Gary for his Tuesday update...

Almost immediately after leaving the Visitor Centre, a quick scan down the deer-proof fence revealed four redpoll and a male stonechat. We decided to wait and see if the dartford Warbler would appear, and on cue there it was, posing on the wire. All hell broke loose as the white doves that were on the roof scattered trying to evade a peregrine. It just circled the centre in frustration…

A slightly delayed posting of Gary's wildlife update from last week...

In front of Nettleys, six snipe were doing their best to look like dried reeds and for the most part succeeding. See if you can spot them in the photograph.

About 80 black-tailed godwits were squabbling as usual and three were sporting colour rings; the details have been sent off and we should hear of their history soon.

Thanks to volunteer…

Apparently the pigeon won - the peregrine was later seen sulking on the South Brooks!

With up to 3 peregrines hunting over the reserve at the moment you've a great chance of seeing more of this sort of scene re-enacted.  It seems amazing that the fastest bird in the world sometimes struggles to catch its dinner but more often than not, the hunting attempts fail.

Thanks to Gareth Hughes for the fantastic action…

The bright clear skies tempted me out this morning, so I donned my woolly hat and gloves and took a wander around the wetland trail.

As I left the visitor centre, I bumped into Pete. We chatted away whilst a pair of stonechats bobbed up and down in the field and a mistle thrush flew across.  There was a lot of duck movement down on the South Brooks and a quick scan revealed the source of the panic - a speedy peregrine…

A seasonal message from Margot and the shop team...

It has been quite an exciting time recently in the visitor centre & shop. When a Dartford warbler was first spotted by a visitor on the fence line a couple of weeks ago there was a rush to confirm the sighting. We were fortunate that David, one of the Wardens, was able to see it both through a scope and binoculars. Since then many people have used the terrace outside…

The weather forecasters got it spot on today, worse luck. The walk down the zigzag and on to West Mead was quite pleasant, redwing and fieldfare seemed to be erupting from every bush we passed. West Mead was quite quiet but some good close views of wigeon and teal could be had. Something disturbed the lapwing a couple of times but we could not pick anything up. Leaving the hide we bumped into some regular visitors who…

A great start to the wildlife watching week...

This lovely short eared owl was seen by our volunteers whilst they were undertaking our Wetland Bird Survey monthly count - although I suspect it distracted Laurie and Gary from counting all those hundreds of wigeon!  We have been getting regular sightings of short eared owl over the past couple of weeks, often from Winpenny hide where you are closest to the river bank, this…

A grey, windy Pulborough Brooks today was visited by a brownish juvenile peregrine. It terrorised the occupants of the whole North and South Brooks on a number of occasions causing quite a stir. About 220 black-tailed godwits tried to find a quiet corner but had to commute between the North and South Brooks whenever they were disturbed.

A juvenile marsh harrier decided to enter into the spirit of things by adding to…

Our lovely Highland cows have been playing hide and seek with our wardens and volunteers - you can see from Mike's photo they blend in pretty well with the bracken out on the heath!

Six of the herd are currently munching their way through the birch, bramble and grasses out on the heath which helps give the heather a bit of a helping hand.  It's tricky for the more diminutive heather plants to become established…

As promised to those of you who joined us on our fungi-themed guided walks here is the list of all of the species that we found on the October walks, including those tricky ones that Martin had to take back as homework!

There is still plenty to see out around the trails and I'm popping out every now and again to try and identify and label more...

Glistening inkcaps.

Thanks to volunteer Phil for the report and photos from Friday.

Even on days when the more interesting wildlife fails to appear the beautiful peaceful landscape at Pulborough Brooks is guaranteed. To emphasise this point on arrival at Nettley’s hide with the early morning rain gradually clearing I was greeted by a weak but perfectly arched rainbow over the North Brooks.

But on this day there was no shortage…