Pulborough, 17th-18th March

After the excitement of Gary's Wheatears and Carey Lodge's first LRP last week what was perhaps/hopefully winter's last hurrah put a serious dampener on the anticipated arrival of more early spring migrants this past weekend, but not to be deterred I still made a couple of trips to the Brooks and was rewarded with three year ticks and two patch lifers!

Lapwing

Saturday morning was grey and chilly with the first wave of snow arriving by mid-morning. My first Little Ringed Plovers (two) of the year flew past Winpenny Hide, while a Curlew from here which I first picked up from West Mead was a Pulborough first for me. 

Distant phone-scoped Curlew from West Mead

A little closer at Winpenny...

Also here were two Dunlin with another or possibly one of the same two seen later from Hails View. Three Red-legged Partridge in Small Rushy Brook near West Mead were the first I'd actually seen onsite after a heard-only record last weekend. On the North Brooks there was little of note aside from circa sixty Black-tailed Godwits - another thirty flew south past Hails View later on. At least thirty Shelduck were onsite in total on Saturday - a new patch record for me - while one or more Golden Plover called unseen above Black Wood. After a count of four singing males in the week there was just a single non-singing Chiffchaff near the Hanger.

Black-tailed Godwits

Sunday started with some birding from home first thing which produced a female Blackbird nest-building in next door's garden in the snow, a flyover Red Kite and two Egyptian Geese west - the latter new for the garden list which now stands at 105.

I headed over to the Brooks in the afternoon having read of some impressive cold weather movements going on elsewhere in the south. I have to say I didn't see a huge amount of it during my four hour visit but a congregation of thirty Golden Plover low east over the visitor centre was an auspicious start. The flock of a hundred-odd Linnets was still in Upperton's Field along with two Red-legged Partridge, seven Stock Doves, a few Rooks and a female Kestrel keeping watch from the fence. Still no Wheatear here for me - mind you, who'd want to be a Wheatear trying to move in this weather??

Red-legged Partridge

Kestrel

I couldn't stand for too long in the biting north-easterly at Jupp's View and The Hanger but of note here were some fourteen Black-tailed Godwits (distant and huddled in so tight together as to make an accurate count tricky), a dozen Shelduck, two Little Egrets and only my second patch Little Grebe of the year. A few Fieldfares and Redwings moved west through the trees above the Hanger while the occasional adult Lesser Black-backed Gull drifted north - six in total during today's visit.

There wasn't much of note at Winpenny aside from a non-singing Chiffchaff, a single Coot and a flyover first winter Common Gull so I finished up the weekend with an hour or so in West Mead which produced close views of a single Little Ringed Plover, ten Meadow Pipits plus the usual scattering of wildfowl.

Little Ringed Plover

A little after 16:00hrs I was thinking of calling it a day when an unmistakeable call drew my attention to a gull flock circling over towards the Arun. Getting the scope on them I was able to confirm the presence of a single silvery-winged adult Mediterranean Gull with a dozen Black-headed Gulls, before they all bunched together and drifted south. Another new species for my Pulborough list and the year list, taking the 2018 total to 103.

With rather more clement weather on the horizon in the coming days, hopefully by the time I do my next one of these weekend round-ups it'll be about ten degrees warmer and there'll be Sand Martins and Wheatears dropping in left, right and centre!