Spring is a magical time to visit – birds are singing, blossom is blooming, bees are buzzing and butterflies are fluttering. Over the pools and wet meadows the lapwing is performing acrobatic aerial manoeuvres, calling ‘peewit, peewit’. Later on, look for the cute fluffy chicks who have to be up on their feet and running as soon as they hatch.

Creatures are beginning to stir in the murky depths of our…

After a rather foggy start, it has turned into a beautiful day here on the brooks. Having been stuck inside in front of a computer all morning, I was determined to get out for some fresh air at lunchtime and went for a short stroll on the heathland trail.

The wooded edge of the heath is busy with birdsong; feisty wrens, wistful robins, sneezing marsh tits and perhaps my favourite songster of them all the blackcap. Sometimes…

Today I escaped the office and joined the Thursday morning Wildlife Walk About; our regular guided walk around the reserve. There is still a March chill in the air, making it feel a little less like spring in the shade, but quite pleasant in the sheltered sunshine. Despite the chill, there has been a big arrival of chiffchaff to the reserve in the past week or so, with these 'little brown jobs' singing their name loudly…

An update from our newest warden, Andy.

Now the flood waters have receded across the brooks, the wardening team have been able to get out and assess the damage to fence-lines and gateways caused by the water. Now we’ve been able to do this, we have a list of repairs to keep us going for some time.

To start with we have worked with our valiant volunteers to repair and replace the fenceline separating the nature…

Just a brief little message from me to let you know that our shop will be shutting at 3 pm this coming Wednesday so that staff and volunteers can complete a stock take.  The nature trails, cafe and toilets will remain open as normal.

Our volunteer work party will be undertaking repair work to fences close to West Mead hide tomorrow (Tuesday) which will cause some disturbance in this area, however there should still be…

The Heathland this week has been providing regular views of Firecrest, the area to look is the Blackwood. The Blackwood Today also provide nice views of a Raven.

 

Firecrest - Taken by Chris Prince

On the Wetlands trail Black-tailed Godwit, Snipe, and a Mediterranean Gull have all been seen from Winpenny. A pair of Avocets have been with us since last Tuesday, they are often best viewed from Jupps viewpoint.

 

The…

Or do I have to wait until next week when it officially starts?

For me, spring is here when I hear my first ‘proper’ chiffchaff and it seems as though we had an influx over the weekend. I heard (and saw) my first of the year today, just outside Fattengates courtyard. Very splendid indeed.

In fact it is difficult to avoid signs of spring at the moment with birds singing, blackthorn blossoming and snakes basking…

I’ve been having a lovely time out in the sunshine these past couple of days, but I’m not the only one. Our adders have also been out basking trying to make the most of the sunshine. They need to warm up before they can become active, find food and breed.

‘Adder alley’ – the stretch of sandy trail between Winpenny and Little Hanger hides is the most reliable spot so do have a look for these fantastic creatures…

Taking advantage of the the break in the weather I ventured out of the office to look at the work on the Healthland. The new wet pools systems are really taking shape and it does not need much imagination to see how this area is going to be fantastic for a wide variety of wildlife. Walking to the top of the pools on the footpath, there is a three way split, you get a great views of how the pools join together and cascade…

Last spring we planted the field in front of the visitor centre with a mixture of arable plants to provide food and shelter for seed-eating birds during the autumn and winter. Throughout the winter, this has been home to a sizeable flock of linnets who, now we’re moving into spring, are developing their brighter breeding plumage – the male looks like he is wearing a red bra!

(rspb-images.com)

 

The 40…

With a full day of sunshine on Monday, the first Adders of the year where seen soaking up some rays.  Sightings have continued throughout the week, the best spot to see the adders has been along 'Adder alley' the pathway that connects Winpenny and Little Hanger.

                                                                                                                                     Photo taken by Chris Prince at 'Adder Alley' on Monday

 

The floodwater is continuing to recede, and I am happy to report we once again have…

Let’s begin with a flood update – the water is currently receding and, for the first time in a little while, you can now complete the full circuit of the wetlands trail, visiting all 4 of the hides. I’d suggest that you wear wellies (or at least walking boots) and expect to get a little muddy, especially in the section near Winpenny hide. If you venture down through Hanger wood to Nettley’s hide take a look at the tide…

Look for a _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ pink and plump

what you’ll often see is just his rump.

A flash of black and a patch of white

is what you’ll see as he takes flight

 

But sometimes if you really search

in the blossom you’ll see him perch.

All puffed up and looking pretty

he may even sing his little ditty

 

Who can tell me which bird this poem describes?

Identifying wildlife is often about playing detective…

As you can imagine from the recent weather, things are still pretty soggy on the flooded meadows at Pulborough Brooks this week!

Water levels continue to be very high, and as of this morning, Winpenny and Nettleys Hides are inaccessible due to flooding. The Nature Trail past Winpenny Hide is also underwater, meaning the full circular ciruit cannot be competed, with the section between West Mead hide and Adder Alley/Little…

If you fancy exploring somewhere new with friendly and knowledgeable guides then the RSPB are running a couple of walks to celebrate the diversity  of habitats and wildlife within the south downs.

The first explores the Norfolk Estate near Burpham - a fantastic spot for winter wildlife - and the second explores Knowlands Wood near Barcombe.

Details of the walks are shown in the posters below.  You will need to book your…

I’m hoping that lots of you took part in our big garden birdwatch and saw some great birds and other wildlife in your gardens. Hopefully you also managed to submit your results without difficulties, but for those of you who experienced ‘technical issues’ we’re really sorry - of all the weekends for us to have problems with our website this was probably the worst! If you haven’t yet submitted your results you can still…

The tension is building as we reach the halfway stage and today’s count delivered a draw, with both the courtyard and café team spotting 9 species and scoring 12 points. A first for the week was a lovely little wren who was skulking around the back of the café garden. We’ve yet to spot a marsh tit during our allotted 10 minutes using either set of feeders – so if you do pop in over the next few days perhaps you can join…

The second round of our big garden birdwatch challenge resulted in a resounding win for the café team with an impressive 13 species scoring 20 points. Although the courtyard picked up a few ‘2 point’ species including moorhen and coal tit they managed 7 species worth 10 points.

Then just as I thought the café was running away with the challenge the courtyard (being represented by our shop team) stole…

Well the first round of our big garden birdwatch challenge goes to the café, who spotted 9 species of bird in their 10 minute count (scoring 13 points) with the courtyard feeders producing 8 species (scoring 11 points).

Café’s mini birdwatch list: blue tit, great tit, robin, coal tit, dunnock, chaffinch, house sparrow, nuthatch and great spotted woodpecker.

Courtyard mini birdwatch list: robin, blue…

We did our monthly waterfowl count this morning - tricky due to the awesome extent of the flooding throughout the valley and a bit of early mist, but it was utterly calm which made the counting the ducks/geese/swans etc present fairly straightforward if we able to get to the right place. Impressive numbers of birds were present throughout the valley, particularly on Amberley wildbrooks, and there were some areas we usually…

There are lots of things I love about the big garden birdwatch:

• you can be part of the world’s largest wildlife survey
• it provides vital information on which of our birds, and this year other garden wildlife, are faring well and which are struggling
• you can do it whilst drinking tea (and even perhaps whilst indulging in a slice of cake!)

So this week, the team here at Pulborough Brooks will be running its…

After another deluge yesterday ( ca.38mm in approximately 18 hrs), flood levels have shot back up again today and are still rising, and it is quite possible that it will reach a similar level to that of 24-25th December. The trail between West Mead and Winpenny hides is flooded and is likely to remain so for at least several days, cutting off Winpenny and Nettley's hide. The view from the Hanger is pretty self-explanatory…

Another sublime morning - completely still and bright sunshine. Hundreds of pintails still on site, mostly on the north brooks where many of the males were doing their best to look fabulous in front of the females. The enormo-flood is dropping, and there are strips of land appearing in front of West Mead hide, where ca.200 lapwing were jostling for the best spots and a couple of ruff stalked about in the background like they…

Only one phrase could describe the south brooks this morning - mirror calm, under a (finally!) clear sky. Thousands of ducks spread out all over the place were an awesome sight - there were at least 300 pintail on the north brooks 2 days ago, and there seems little reason to suggest that number has changed much! About 10 shelduck are newly in and represent a sign of lengthening days, and great spotted woodpeckers were drumming…

I may be being a little premature (some may say I’m tempting fate) but it looks as though we may be getting a welcome respite from this gloomy weather over the coming weekend. This is especially welcome as I’ll be up before the crack of dawn to lead our ‘dawn of the ducks’ event!

Whilst there isn’t a great deal of rain forecast over the next few days, it’s unlikely that we’ll see the floods receding…