Mind the Gap

So yes, as I was saying, June has been quiet...

That wonderfully simple yet accurate term in the butterflying community - 'the June gap' - used to describe the midsummer lull between the dwindling of the spring species and the full emergence of the high summer ones could, I always think, be just as readily applied to birding at this time of year.

Of course there are plenty of resident and migrant birds busy breeding everywhere but still there is that unavoidable sense of things getting distinctly quiet come mid-June and with the spring being so late in getting going this year the onset of the doldrums felt particularly sudden and pronounced, and even I must admit to having found the urge to get up at 5 to hit the patch most mornings waning somewhat recently.

Adult and juvenile Rooks

There have nonetheless been a few birds of note at Pulborough this month with more records of Osprey and Garganey in the past couple of weeks (I still haven't caught up with the former on patch!) and the odd couple of Mediterranean Gulls here and there. What was presumably the same Avocet pair from earlier in the year made a brief reappearance on the North Brooks on the 8th, while the Winpenny area has been playing host to at least one Snipe throughout the breeding season. The seemingly solitary male Nightjar continues to call near Black Pond every evening I've checked, and it's been good to see at least one Barn Owl around on most visits lately - thankfully some of them made it through that awful end to the winter.

After the excitement of the Royal Tern at Pagham, the following evening (20th) delivered my first and so far only patch year tick of June in the form of two Common Terns flying south over the North Brooks. This was particularly noteworthy for me as it's the first Tern of any species on my Pulborough list.

Med Gull over Winpenny, 18th June

Thankfully, the four week quiet spell seems to be coming to an end with the first hints of birds beginning to move again in the past few days. On Sunday morning the Brooks held six Little Ringed Plovers and three Green Sandpipers - one of which dropped down in front of Winpenny for barely three minutes before flying off south at height - and a Sand Martin was noted powering south overhead; the first one I've seen here for a while so presumably not a local bird. Then last night I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of a Water Rail calling as it flew over the house. With the evenings gradually beginning to draw in from now on (I get told off if I mention that to my other half...) and July just around the corner, hopefully wader passage will really get going in the coming few weeks.

Signs that the butterfly June Gap is coming to an end were evident on Sunday also, with singles of White-letter Hairstreak and White Admiral seen along with good numbers of Purple Hairstreak. Also of note were my first two Brown Hawkers of the year and two Water Voles plopping into the ditches on the recently opened Wetland Discovery Trail.

White-letter Hairstreak

Two other bits of good news worth a mention: I was delighted to read that the breeding waders at Pulborough have had such a good year with 41 Lapwing chicks and 10 Redshank chicks successfully reared, thanks in no small part to the hard work put in by all the RSPB staff and volunteers. Secondly, I was also pleased to hear that my record of a juvenile Iceland Gull flying over the visitor centre on 2nd April was accepted by the Sussex rarities committee, making it the first record for Pulborough Brooks!

Juvenile Lapwing