Pulborough, 10th-11th March

A weekend of reasonably mild weather which saw an increase in birdsong and apparent seasonal movement, with three new birds for the patch year list taking my total to 99.

The Woodlark continues to announce its presence over the heath and on both days this weekend was heard straight away as I arrived in the car park. It was good to discover two birds now present and the RSPB locking the gates to the central section of the heath to prevent disturbance.

Woodlark

It's clearly not just the Woodlarks thinking about breeding as one of the seven Grey Herons seen on Saturday was flying over the visitor centre with an impressively large piece of nesting material. The large flock of Linnets is still favouring the area around the ploughed field immediately behind the visitor centre; certainly well over a hundred birds in total but hard to get an accurate count as they're always so flighty!

Grey Heron

Linnets

Meanwhile, it was good to hear my first patch Chiffchaff of the year singing intermittently near the top of the Zig Zag path on Saturday. The North Brooks held c.175 Black-tailed Godwits, an Avocet (only my second ever here after one on 13th January this year), ten Shelduck, three Little Egrets and a single Dunlin which flew off towards the South Brooks. Finished off Saturday's visit with a look at Hails View which produced another dozen Shelduck, two Dunlin, two Egyptian Geese, a Grey Wagtail and a pair of Gadwall.

Avocet on the North Brooks

On Saturday afternoon we took some non-birding friends for a little walk around The Burgh. Evidently we were in the wrong area for the Short-eared Owls but it was nice to run into the ringtail Hen Harrier again, with a supporting cast of at least eight Red Kites, two Ravens, four Lapwing, heard only Red-legged & Grey Partridge and a minimum of three hundred Common Gulls. I've still yet to have a bad session up here, no matter what the weather. Surely one of the best sites of its kind in the south-east?

Sunday at the Brooks began with the Woodlark and at least two Chiffchaffs again in fine voice. It was good to see a pair of Redshanks from Winpenny as well as three distant Dunlin. Something spooked all the waders at one point which revealed the presence of four previously unseen Golden Plover which flew north over the hide. Another single bird flew north-east over Brook Field later in the morning.

Golden Plover over Brook Field

Lapwings seem to be pairing up and getting territorial now, as do Shelducks, with the odd one flying around and checking out the grassy slopes of Hollybush Hill. At least 26 on site on Sunday was a patch record count of this species for me. On the North Brooks on Sunday morning were c.130 Black-tailed Godwits, three Little Egrets, a lone and vocal drake Gadwall and another couple of Dunlin, while a Raven cronked north-west high overhead. Highlights from Hails View, meanwhile, were two each of Peregrine and Red Kite and heard only Water Rail and Red-legged Partridge, the latter a Pulborough lifer! A quick scan from The Hanger in the afternoon produced the third and final year tick of the weekend in the form of a pair of Coots; a surprisingly infrequent sight here but right on cue as we're getting into peak rail migration season now - in fact I've heard one calling through the bedroom window the past couple of nights, presumably flying overhead. I experimented the other night with setting up my nocmig microphone through the attic window so as to get a bit closer to the action (and less background noise from the neighbours!) so will let you know how that worked out in a future blog post.

Raven over Jupp's View

Patch gold!