Browse by Tags

Eleven waxwings appeared just after first light this morning in the same spot as yesterday, but sadly didn't stay long. They flew off north at about 08.30 and were not seen again. Peregrine, hen harrier (hunting over the north brooks this afternoon), buzzard, kestrel, and sparrowhawk all noted today...

A flock of 12 waxwings made a surprise and most welcome visit to a tree next to the car park this afternoon. They were dropping down to feed on guelder rose berries right next to the classroom and then flying back up to the large pollard willow by the pond. At about 4pm they flew off, presumably to roost...

The felling work is complete, most of the timber has been extracted from the site and the clear up is well under way. We are hoping that the trails will be reinstated and the ruts created by the machinery filled in over three next weeks so the main heathland restoration area will back open before christmas...

The Arun nearly overtopped its banks today and yesterday, so although the brooks are very wet, it doesn't look like we'll have a complete flood event this week. The sheer volume of water coming off the higher fields yesterday morning temporarily flooded the nature trail near west mead but this...

Some big changes have occured on the heathland restoration areas in the last 3 weeks - the main section of the 1966 Scots pine plantation has been felled and removed (see below), and various other sections have been thinned. All the timber is being taken off to a sawmill and the brash (all the branches...

Ok, that's more like it,...with about 30mm of rain and 35-40mph winds over the last few days, it feels like the end of autumn. A hen harrier (ringtail) has put on a good show on the north brooks on a couple of days this week, and the rising water levels have encouraged a significant arrival of black...

Our new south brooks viewpoint is now open and ready for everyone to enjoy - just head down the footpath on the edge of the heath, pass the black pond on the left, take the gate immediately on the right and follow the trail through the woodland.

2 lesser spotted woodpeckers (!) in the vicinity of Fattengates courtyard at about 10.30 this morning (per Peter Moon, Gary Trew, Marc Shaw et al). On the north brooks approx 70 black-tailed godwits, 6 ruff, 2 golden plovers, several hundred each of wigeon, lapwing and teal, and smaller numbers of...

We hope that the bridleway and footpath that runs south from the visitor centre to the Rackham/Greatham Rd will be open again tomorrow (saturday), but there will be no circular route around the heath and the grazing enclosure will remain closed due to continuing forestry operations. Please check for...

Well, not that much like June as it was a typically murky autumn day, but this foxglove was pushing its luck and pretending that it was still summer, and remarkably I found a slow worm near the edge of the car park which I picked up and moved out of harm's way (the car park - slow worm interface...

One bird that we most associate with early spring on the reserve, the lesser spotted woodpecker, has put in some good appearances in the last few days. Another species that normally only turns up here in late March or early April is the crane, so it was a bit weird when one dropped into the Amberley...

The forestry operations that were due to start this week have been delayed slightly - they will now start next week (12th Nov). Next week there will be no access along the public bridleway and public footpath that lead from the RSPB car park to the Rackham/Greatham road, and most of the nature trails...

The eastern side of Amberley wildbrooks looked a picture from Rackham plantation viewpoint at 07.45 this morning... The flooded fields were teeming with waterfowl - after a very brief count, I estimated ca. 450 teal, 750 wigeon, 70 pintail, 40 shoveler, 200 lapwings and 65 black-tailed godwits...

Its looking properly wintry on the brooks now - lots of wigeon, teal, shoveler, lapwing, greylag geese, Canada geese all over the brooks. A few pintail, single black-tailed godwit and up to 3 ruff have been present over the last few days and the female peregrine has been using her usual perch at the...

Very dull, grey and murky here for the last few days, but at least one good thing to come from this mild weather has been the splash of colour provided by the contents moth trap - last night there was merveille du jour, red-green carpet (both pictured below), sallow, brick, red-line quaker, delicate...

Forestry works for heathland restoration will commence on the 5th November. This will involve felling and removal of areas of conifer plantations. The work will take approximately 8 weeks and will cause some disruption to visitors to the heath as we will need to close some of the permissive paths and...

Some distinct signs of autumn over the last week: the first few redwings have appeared around the trail (I saw/heard about 20 early on Sunday morning), a few redpolls and siskins and single grey wagtail have been overhead the last few mornings, and goldcrests are now appearing with increasing frequency...

Guess who won? I know hornets are pretty efficient predators of all sorts of insects (last week I saw one killing a honey bee), but never thought that they were able to take on such large things as migrant hawkers! I saw this yesterday morning - the hornet was in the process of bringing down the dragonfly...

Huge numbers of house martins and lesser numbers of swallows over the reserve yesterday morning - probably several thousand birds but in truth impossible to count. Teal and wigeon numbers appear to very slowly picking up, and the hedges are still busy with migrant warblers (mostly blackcaps and chiffchaffs...

Our monthly waterfowl count this morning produced all the usual suspects for this time of year - green sandpiper, small numbers of wigeon, numerous mallard, ca. 100 teal and a few shoveler. Raptors noted today included hobby, sparrowhawk, buzzard and kestrel. At various points out on the brooks were...

A few snipe in front of Nettley's hide this morning were good value - some roosting, some feeding and at least one having a good stretch, scractch and preen. And all of them of course looked very beautiful and stripey in the sunshine. About 20 wigeon were amongst the teal and mallard, the most I've...

Various waders still present/passing through in the last two days include greenshank, ruff, common sandpiper, snipe, dunlin, ringed plover, little ringed plover, green sandpiper, and of course lapwing. Wood sandpiper (see photo, thanks Graham) seen yesterday, though not reported today up to 4pm. Two...

At least one marsh harrier continues to appear on a daily basis - it's plain dark-brown plumage topped with fantastic creamy-yellow/orange head marks it out as a juvenile. I managed to take a distant photo of it whilst it stopped to talk to one of the local herons. Passage waders in the last 2 days...

Decent selection of passage waders now arriving on the brooks - greenshank, spotted redshank (thanks to Graham for photo), little ringed plover, snipe, green sandpiper, common sandpiper and black-tailed godwit present today. There were 2 or 3 garganey amongst the flocks of mallard and teal on the north...

The warm weather this week has meant that the grassy verges around the site have been humming with insect life. Lots of butterflies (brown hairstreaks, gatekeepers, meadow browns, small coppers, whites, red admirals, common blue etc), and of course grasshoppers and crickets. Below is a speckled bush...