Thursday 1st January 2025: Pulborough

 New Year, new list! As always, we started our annual birding with a visit to Pulborough Brooks, meeting Sue at 8am, sunrise time! 

My first bird of the year was Herring Gull, with three circling over the house as we left home around first light. The regular ‘roundabout’ Buzzard was also noted as we drove past.

Birding started quickly once we arrived at the reserve, in absolutely freezing conditions, with a flurry of regular tits, Robin, Blackbird etc. as we chatted in the car park. More noteworthy though was the appearance of a showy Firecrest foraging in the open branches of the same deciduous tree attracting the other species. An excellent tick so early in the day!

Firecrest 

A few more common birds were noted as we walked through the zigzags and Fattengates, including  Greenfinches, which appear to gradually be  increasing in numbers following the devastation from trichonomsis.

We continued on to Westmead hide, where the water levels were high, attracting good numbers of waterfowl. Pintail, Shoveler, Wigeon and Teal were abundant, whilst at the back of the pool, which remained frozen, a gaggle of Canada Geese brushed up on their ice skating techniques!

Waders were thin on the ground, probably due to the large amount of water everywhere, but a few Snipe foraged out in the open on the islands and water’s edge directly in front of the hide, giving great views in the cold winter sun. There were good numbers of Lapwing dotted around the reserve, but impressive as they took to the skies in large flocks. 

Snipe

At the back of the reserve, we spotted three Marsh Harriers hawking, putting up panic-stricken groups of ducks in the process. A Red Kite also drifted above the distant trees.

Leaving the hide, as we walked through the scrubby enclosure, we found a close up Song Thrush and a beautiful Fieldfare, its purple and grey back and wings and chestnut chest emphasised magnificently by the low sunlight. At Winpenny Hide we added just a single Stonechat, so quickly continued our walk round the reserve. 

Goldfinch and Jackdaw were added at the Hangar, then Coal Tit, feeding on strategically placed seeds in the fence post.

We took the path by the church back to the visitor centre where we added Nuthatch and Moorhen before warming up with some hot soup.  News then came through that a flock of White-fronted geese had just flown onto the brooks. Reluctant to walk all the way back down, we took the lazy way out and looked through the visitor centre scope to add it to the list. With good numbers about locally now, and the forecast for cold weather to linger, we felt we could afford to wait for better views another day.

White-fronted Goose

After lunch we drove a short distance to Waltham Brooks, walking the track towards the water treatment centre. A Kestrel hovering over the brooks was new as we got out of the cars. At the sewage works, there were astonishing numbers of Chiffchaffs flitting around the bushes, including one of the Siberian race, looking very pale compared to the majority of birds seen. Another group of birders advised it had responded to playback. A Grey Wagtail also flew low overhead giving us another new tick. Retracing our steps Tim spotted a beautiful male Bullfinch perched in the tree, although Sue didn’t manage to get onto this.

Chiffchaff

Finally, as we drove home, we detoured for a drive along the edge of Widewater lagoon, where Coot and Little Grebe completed our tally of over fifty species for the day. Not a bad start to our birding year!

(NB Tim didn’t take his camera today, opting for a scope instead, so these are photos he has taken previously rather than today)