To most people the end of July would still be high summer but for some birds the breeding season is over and they may be considering heading south to winter quarters. The green sandpipers currently being seen regularly on the North Brooks are an indicator, but what brought it home to me was a solitary whinchat seen clearly from Nettley’s Hide. I’d not seen one at Pulborough since last September.

Otherwise…

The recent rain has put some water back on the brooks which in turn has attracted some waders. On the north brooks, at least seven green sandpiper, one common sandpiper, two dunlin and four little-ringed plover. They were sometimes difficult to spot and would disappear for long periods, no doubt caused by a marauding juvenile peregrine and sparrowhawk. However, with a little bit of patience and perseverance they did show…

We're starting to get excited about our Big Wild Sleepout events that take place in a couple of weeks time...I've got my tent out of the loft and sleeping bag at the ready!

We're holding events on both the Friday and Saturday night (7th & 8th August) and I'm looking forward to meeting some of our great night creatures. Whilst the Saturday night event is now fully booked, we do still have some spaces left on the…

Volunteer Gary reports on his 'rounds' on Tuesday...

Pulborough Brooks rarely disappoints, and it didn't disappoint today either. It helped being a beautiful day with plenty of warm sunshine and a nice cooling breeze. Butterflies were everywhere, perhaps they knew it was The Big Butterfly Count that runs until the 9^th August.

My own tally today being – meadow brown, gatekeeper, small skipper, large skipper…

An update on our recent sightings from John, complemented by photos from Phil (thank you both)

"We are at that 'in between' time of the year. Our spring and summer birds have quietened down now they have mated and brooded and we are still waiting for the arrival of our autumn migrants. Come winter our colourful wildfowl will again visit in their thousands. Still over the last few days we've had several black-tailed godwit…

At this time of year the reserve is fantastic for insects both when the sun is out and when it sets.

For me, dragonflies and butterflies are the daytime highlights:

As you approach black pond on the heath you can hear the clash of wings as dozens of four-spotted chaser dragonflies enter aerial combat, each vying for the best waterside perches. The smaller zippier darters have also started to merge - look for the red…

A nice range of sightings from yesterday, courtesy of volunteer Gary...

"Walking down the zig-zag it was obvious it was going to be hot, meadow browns and large skippers were everywhere and a solitary ringlet. At Fattengates a garden warbler showed itself after some searching and both willow warbler and chiffchaff were singing. Winpenny was quiet but the pool had broad -bodied chasers skimming over the surface. Adder…

Butterflies were the order of the day from early on with plenty of Meadow Brown and Small Tortoiseshell feeding on the thistle next to the 'new' trail before Winpenny Hide. And a migrant Painted Lady, seen at various times in the morning, was sunbathing on the entrance ramp. (see Phil Thornton's pic below).

Bird wise it was sounds more than sights on the trails, though a nightingale perched briefly on a…

Volunteer Gary returns to Pulborough Brooks after several weeks away...

"Going on holiday is great, but coming back is always a pleasure to see what has changed. In the three weeks that I have been away the grass has shot up and now ripples in the wind and the bracken along Adder Alley is now chest high.

Walking down from the centre the first bird I heard was a nightingale at the top of the zig-zag giving its …

Volunteer Phil reports on his sightings from Friday...

"Where are all the birds? This was a question asked by 2 different visitors on the day. My reply was that if they wanted to see lots of birds then winter is the best time to visit for the large flocks of wintering wildfowl and black tailed godwits, but there is still much wildlife of interest here in summer.

For example there is still a lot of birdsong to be…

A long but successful day for me at Pulborough Brooks yesterday.  I began with an early start to 'unpack' the moth trap that I'd set up to run overnight.., on the edge of the trap perched a lovely scorched wing moth and a few of the colourful cinnabar moths flashed their red underwings as they fluttered off as the sun warmed up.

Delving further into the traps revealed 3 fabulous hawkmoths - poplar, lime…

Inspired by Springwatch, volunteer Gary sets himself a challenge...

"Borrowing Chris Packhams idea from Springwatch, I set myself a challenge today to see if I could do any better than their current efforts. Well the first thing to say is that it is not easy being restricted to a non-zoom lens and not many megapixels. The first attempt and first bird of the day was a Red Kite while I was chatting in the car park – dot…

One of the newest members of our Pulborough Brooks team, Margot, describes her experience on Saturday evening's 'After Dark!' event:

Attending the Saturday “After Dark” event was a marvellous experience.

To start the evening Anna had caught over 30 different moths and identified them, so we formed 2 groups. Trying to match the moths to their names meant we could challenge our knowledge, or make…

Thanks to volunteer Phil for this great account of his visit on Friday

At the end of the day a visitor asked me if I’d seen any rarities to which my reply was that it depends what you mean by a rarity. What we tend to have at Pulborough Brooks are uncommon birds occasionally turning up, but very few that would attract an army of twitchers with long lenses.   But sometimes we have otherwise common birds turn up which…

Due to a burst water main, We are going to have to keep the Visitor Centre and Café closed today!. 

We're really sorry about this, however it is beyond our control! 

Southern Water are working on fixing the problem, so hopefully we will be able to re-open later on. 

Andy

Today it was a case of judging when to dash to the next hide whilst dodging the showers – at West Mead the previous weeks pair of pintail were still present, together with three gadwall and a redshank. Four lapwing chicks were being defended by ever vigilant parents, and on one occasion there was a very audible 'bonk' as a crow got on the wrong end of a attack for getting too close.

Nightingales were still…

Volunteer John reports on his sightings from Friday

A cuckoo calling from Wiggonholt direction provided the first tick as I left the carpark and this was the accompanying soundtrack of the day with possibly three
calling across the reserve. On the way to Hail's view commotion high in an oak  tree alerted me to a great spotted woodpecker returning to the nest with food.
Mallard, teal, shelduck and lapwing all showed…

I wish that I could go out onto the reserve with volunteer Gary every week - he always finds some goodies.  Here is his report of yesterday's highlights:

"Another day at Pulborough Brooks got off to a good start with a raven flying over the car park. The zigzag had the usual suspects in the form of bullfinch, blackcap, garden warbler, whitethroat, chiffchaff, linnet and, at Fattingates, willow warbler and a calling…

Extremely windy today at Pulborough Brooks, it was difficult enough to hear yourself think let alone hear birdsong. Even so, it was still possible to hear a garden warbler mumbling away at the top of the zigzag and a few blackcaps that are now much more tentative than the last few weeks. At West Mead, last week's three lapwing chicks were still there and two redshank stalked the far bank; overhead a large group of swifts…

Since the media seems to be obsessed with naming babies at the moment, I'm wondering whether we can get the same enthusiasm for naming our first brood of lapwing chicks for the year...

Volunteer Phil reports on the highlights from a day at Pulborough Brooks on Friday.

For the past few weeks visitors to West Mead Hide have been able to observe a lapwing nesting on one of the islands in the pool with eggs being mostly…

Volunteer Phil reports on his progress with bird song identification...

"Two weeks ago I wrote about trying to identify the arrival of nightingales while being very aware of several blackcaps singing on the reserve.   Now however I’m very clear in my own mind that its impossible to confuse the 2 songs. Blackcaps are still singing prominently but the nightingales seem to be in full voice too so there is plenty of…

Redstarts, nightingales and hobbies - just another day at the office for Gary, on his usual Tuesday volunteering stint:

I thought that I would start the day by seeing how the bluebells were doing in the Black Wood, and although not quite at their peak, they looked magnificent in the morning sunshine.

A report that a redstart was near West Mead made me quicken my step past Fattingates where a nightingale was in full…

One of our volunteers, John, has just returned from a holiday and found the reserve a different place to the one he left...

"It's been the best part of a month since I was last at the reserve and what a difference now that lots of songsters are about. Chiffchaff, blackcap, nightingale sang away as I arrived in the car park and elsewhere on the reserve common whitethroat and willow warbler were singing lustily. First…

Thanks to Gary, one of our regular Volunteers, for this short blog post.  

Things are certainly warming up. Another fabulous sunny day at Pulborough Brooks. On my way to West Mead the nightingale at Fattingates was in full song, and at least four common whitethroat between there and West Mead. Four little-ringed plover were extremely close and one of them took exception to a mallard that was peacefully dozing on an…

The Lapwing population in the UK has been declining rapidly over the last 50 years.  Since 1960, the population in England has fallen by 80%.  It is now red listed and a priority for the RSPB.  This decline is mostly due to the changes in agricultural practices over this time period; crops planted in autumn are too tall when the birds are looking to nest.  There has also been a big loss of wet grassland areas to arable farming…