Pulborough, Easter weekend; a quiet start but getting louder

Aside from a Hawfinch briefly at Jupp's View and a flypast from a pair of Mandarin (year tick!) at Fattengates on Friday morning,  both Friday and Saturday's visits to the Brooks were decidedly quiet for the time of year as the unfavourable weather persisted in delaying migration. Indeed, for the first time in I can't remember how long I finished March without seeing a single hirundine.

Thankfully all that was set to change come Monday, but I'll get to that in a bit.

Easter Sunday itself was a largely non-birding day, as we were out with friends in Arundel, but of course I still managed to squeeze in a bit of birding here and there. A scan of the North Brooks from home at dawn revealed a Great White Egret which flew northeast at around 07:00. Another or the same was right in front of Winpenny Hide later when I made an evening visit to the reserve. Probably the best views I've had of this species anywhere, it was great to watch it feeding away less than fifty metres in front of the hide, at one stage averaging catching prey (mostly newts by the looks of it) every couple of minutes.

 

 

 

Back to Sunday morning and before we headed to Arundel I managed a little skywatch from the garden which proved productive as my first Willow Warbler of the year was singing over towards the Arun while an unmistakeable 'k-yow' call alerted me to eight Mediterranean Gulls circling high overheard, drifting slowly north-east.

A rather late night on Sunday led to a leisurely start on Monday, and I arrived at the reserve at around 09:20. A quick glance skyward as I reached the gate revealed a few gulls drifting west overhead. I scanned through them with bins, ticking each one off as a Lesser Black-backed, all until the last gull of the group which instantly stood out as something different.

A chance break in the rain saw a glimmer of sunshine at just the right moment reveal the plumage details as the bird briefly circled overhead: a gleaming white trailing wing edge from the body to the wingtip, contrasting strongly with the otherwise rather dirty, biscuit-coloured tones of the rest of the bird, a rather short tail fanned in a wedge shape, a short and dainty head reminiscent of Common Gull and long, narrow pointed wings. The overall impression was of a somewhat more compact and slighter bird than the preceding LBBGs, but the main thing that stood out was the two tone colour of the coffee beige and gleaming white wing edge. I was in absolutely no doubt I was looking at a juvenile Iceland Gull. No sooner had I had this realisation than the bird had resumed direct flight and was fast drifting away over the roof of the visitor centre, so I by the time I'd fumbled to get my camera out of its case and focus, it was sadly too late to get a record shot. Well, I lie, I did get one photo, but the less said about that the better to be honest!

Iceland Gull (honest!)

Anyway, an auspicious start to the day. A scan of Upperton's Field revealed a couple of Red-legged Partridges but sadly no Wheatears. At Fattengates I thought I heard a Green Sandpiper call overhead and, sure enough, when I got to West Mead I found one working its way along the edge of the pool here. At least four Redshank were again making their presence noisily known on the Mid Brooks today, often getting chased by the Lapwings, as were a pair of Dunlin which dropped in later in the day.

A decent day for waders all round with at least sixteen Black-tailed Godwits on the Mid Brooks and three LRPs and a single Ruff on the North Brooks. The Great White Egret flew down in front of Winpenny Hide again and showed very well for everyone present.

Great White Egret again coming in to land at Winpenny

At The Hanger I picked up a distant hirundine moving east through the now torrential rain which proved to be my first Swallow of the year, followed closely by a couple more shortly after. Clearly the long awaited blast of southerly wind and rain was beginning to deliver the goods. The hirundine arrivals continued at Hails View with at least one more Swallow and fifteen Sand Martins feeding here early afternoon before they gained height and continued north. There were at least seven singing Chiffchaffs around the reserve again while Willow Warblers were singing rather half-heartedly at West Mead and Hail's View. (Good to hear from Gary Trew on Tuesday too that the regular 'Willow Chiff' has returned to its usual spot at Fattengates, combining elements of both species in its song). Wildfowl numbers are really dropping away now, but it was entertaining watching the Teal displaying at Little Hanger.

Teal