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…

A Tuesday morning stroll with volunteer Gary...

The early mist cleared to reveal a warm cloud free day. In the car park as soon as I opened the car door the song of a nightingale hit me, and in the trees surrounding the Centre two blackcaps were competing and I still in the car! The whole reserve was bathed in song from numerous chiffchaff, blackcaps galore, at least seven singing nightingales, two whitethroats, but…

My first outing at Pulborough Brooks after a lenghty holiday brought another warm sunny day and much speculation about whether this would be the day to see the arrival of the first nightingales of the season. Despite the rather monotonous and ubiquitous chiffcaff calls there was much lovely birdsong to be heard but was there nightingale song mixed in?  

Now the blackcap is also one of the UKs very best songsters but is…

The scare/yellow-legged tortoiseshell has been sighted again today.  In the same area as on Tuesday towards the bottom of the zig zag path and Fattengates courtyard.

If you are keen to come and see it, please ask staff and volunteers at the welcome desk in the visitor centre for the latest news.

How nice not to wear a top coat at Pulborough Brooks today. At the top of the zigzag linnets were still in evidence and at the bottom a single willow warbler was my first for the year – how nice to have them back again. Chiffchaff seemed to be everywhere and they were joined by at least two singing blackcaps. At West Mead, snipe gave their typical sneaky views but luckily two little ringed plover gave excellent views…

Easter is the time when we begin our pond dipping events and it is so much fun to delve into the depths of the ponds and get up close and personal with some of the remarkable creatures who live there.

Now the water is starting to warm up we have spotted a few newts in our ponds, but taking a dip into the ponds (with the help of a net) we have also found some wonderful caddis fly larvae, dragonfly larvae, bloodworms and…

Having been delighted to hear my first chiffchaff of the year a couple of weeks ago, I am now wishing they would keep the noise down a little so I can hear some of the other birdsong!

Whilst chiffchaffs can now be heard chiff-chaffing continually as you explore the trails, a few other warblers are a bit trickier to track down but have now arrived.  Today we have had reports of singing willow warbler and blackcap.

At Pulborough Brooks today lots of lapwing activity from the Black Woods Hail’s Viewpoint which has now been re-opened after the tree thinning work. The path is a little muddy but passable with care. Also from Hail’s View were two dunlin and a redshank. Marsh tits, treecreepers, nuthatch and great spotted woodpecker were also seen in the wood.

Generally duck numbers are down with only a few wigeon, pintail…

.......avocet. Not a usual bird for us as they tend to stick to their well known sites in the South of England, but we do get occasional visitors dropping in and we had a single bird (unusual in itself) present on West Mead scrape in the afternoon, kept company by sheltering shelduck, a fidgety redshank and a busy meadow pipit. Elsewhere the reserve sounded of spring with numerous singing chiffchaff, a flock of restless…

All I ever seem to blog about this things being closed, and this is no different!  

Trevor and the team are going to be doing a stocktake on Wednesday, from 3:00pm.  Because of this, the shop and Cafe will both be closed from 3:00pm onwards!  

Sorry for any inconvenience

Andy

One of the butterfly species we are lucky to have here at RSPB Pulborough is the Brown Hairstreak.  It’s usually on the wing from the end of July, then throughout August and the beginning of September.  They are part of the hairstreak family, all five of which are so named because of a pale line on the underside of the wing. 

Brown Hairstreak (Photo by Dave Chester-Nash)

They have an interesting life cycle too…

Our 12.75kg sacks of bird seed are currently on offer with 20% off until 23 February.

The offer excludes peanuts but includes the ever-popular sunflower hearts and no-mess mix.

Sorry about the pun!

Over the last few days pretty pink bullfinches have been particularly visible around the nature trail. 

My typical encounter with a bullfinch is one where I hear it's soft 'peu, peu' call and then see a white bottom disappearing into a nearby blackthorn thicket.  But at this time of year, whilst there are no leaves on the shrubs and trees, you can get great views of them here.  The usual 'hotspots' are along…

Wild families - our nature needs you!

We're currently enlisting families to help us give nature a home on the reserve through our family 'muck in' volunteering days where you'll need to pull on your boots and gloves and join the reserve team for a morning of practical conservation work. As well as helping us to give nature a home it is a great chance to get out in the fresh air, spend some time as a family, learn…

From January 76% of RSPB bird seed will be sourced through Conservation Grade Farms. The scheme requires any farmers signed up to Conservation Grade to actively manage 10% of the farmable area on their farms for wildlife.

The scheme is locally tailored, so an area where skylarks used to be abundant may allocate land to help this species, or an area where bees and other pollinators are struggling may have a wildflower…

Stock up your bird feeders with tasty treats, make yourself a cup of tea and spend an hour watching and recording the birds in your garden this weekend.

Yes, it's Big Garden Birdwatch time!

If you've not done it before, join in this year, pick your hour and record the highest number of each bird species you see at the same time.  Once you've done that, we also want to hear about some of the other wildlife that…

Some of you may remember the rather splendid water rail nicknamed 'Wally' who paraded in front of the Visitor centre for us several winters ago.  I still get asked whether he has come back...

Fond memories....Wally the water rail, photographed by Howard Statham

Whilst there has been no sign of him for the past two winters, there is certainly water rail activity out on the trail with sightings from both Winpenny…

We have a small weather station at Pulborough Brooks, which automatically sends the data it has gathered every day off to the met Office.  The station is to the left of the path as you leave the visitor centre.  One of the readings it takes is rainfall per 24 hours.  Paul, the Warden, receives a daily email with the data it has collected. 

This week, from Monday to Wednesday, we've had 50.2mm of rain, or in old money, just…

Before going out for a walk, take a peek through our new Harrier telescopes.  We're holding an optics event over the weekend where you can try out and ask for advice on our wide range of binoculars and telescopes.  We've just launched our new Harrier telescopes designed to offer a very good quality scope at a mid-range price. There are 2 options for the objective lens (65mm and 80mm) and a choice of fixed or zoom…

It seems that a few people have taken up my challenge of counting the black-tailed godwits who are enjoying the soggy conditions and plentiful worms on the brooks.  In the last couple of days, our previous count for the winter of 400 has been surpassed with estimated reaching the 500 mark. This mass of bickering birds is great fun to watch and includes a number of colour-ringed birds. 

If you follow our blog, you'll know…

As I'm normally on duty at Pulborough Brooks on New Year's Day I've made it my tradition to keep a list of the birds that I've seen from the visitor centre.  I set myself some rules...I'm allowed to use a telescope (which introduces the possibility of some of the wetland birds on West Mead pool) but I'm not allowed to set foot outside of the building.  This year I managed 31 species - my record is…

Are you

a) a last minute shopper looking for those final few Christmas presents, looking to do the finishing touches to your festive decorations

or

b) a savvy well-organized shopper, seeking out some bargains to stash away until next year?

Either way, you can take advantage of our winter sale!

Christmas cards and calendars, decorations and gifts have up to 50% off. Our shop manager Trevor is very keen that all of…

In contrast to last Christmas, the brooks are not currently under a full flood which means that we're playing host largely to the dabbling ducks at the moment.  All 4 of the hides on the wetland trail are open and you are likely to find a range of wintery waterbirds from each one - a few gadwall are interspersed with the more numerous wigeon, teal, shoveler and pintail. 

The large 'pantheon' of black-tailed godwits…

If you don't feel like the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping in town but are starting to feel in the mood for something a little festive then perhaps we can help...

On the nature trails...

Enjoy a bracing walk, listen to the gentle whistling of wigeon, spot a pretty pink bullfinch and count the black-tailed godwits. And we have our winter wildlife watch coming up at the weekend with guided walks, hot ginger…

It has been noticeably chillier today and lots more woolly hats are appearing atop the heads of people exploring the trails.  And a lovely December collection of wintery wildlife can be seen on the reserve.

Black-tailed godwit numbers are in excess of 350, up to 400 we think, although counting this ever moving, continually squabbling mass of long legs and long beaks is rather tricky.  Particularly interesting is the presence…