The Wild Side of Summer

From the sand martins arriving in April to the cattle egret colony onsite this August, its been amazing season for wildlife raising young at WWT Arundel this year.

This August we have counted at least 24 cattle egret nests, some with well grown chicks. The constant chatter from the colony can easily be heard between the Ramsar and Sand Martin hides! At least one pair of little egret have also bred on site with two juveniles seen around the reserve. Pictured above is a juvenile cattle egret snapped by Mike Jerome on site last year.

From July we watched a marsh harrier pair raining three youngsters in our SSSI reedbed this year. We have suspected the pair was nesting on remote parts of our site in past summers. This is the first time we have seen the juveniles harriers onsite. The fledged harriers have had lots of noisy learning flights over the reedbeds, and now further afield as they gain confidence. Their landing skills leave a lot to be desired, with some rather awkward tree landings causing much amusement to staff and visitors.

Marsh harriers aerial antics photographed by visitor Richard Cobden in July.

Barn owls across the country have really struggled this year because of the excessively dry conditions and corresponding lack of field voles. Luckily though, our resident pair have bucked this trend and managed to sustain three chicks. These three were ringed (under licence) on 18^th July. In the photo above our Reserve Wardens assist by holding the owlets as they were also given colour bands, which this year are black, and their letters are ALC on the female owlet, ALD and ALF on the two male owlets. They should be fledging any time this August, so keep an eye out for these young birds.

Trio of owlets on ringing day.

Despite the lack of nesting by kingfishers at WWT Arundel this year, they are now back on site and showing well across all water bodies. Also make sure you get in to see the sand martins at the Sand Martin hide nesting banks before they head south for winter soon!

Good news! In early September we will continue work of converting the remnants of the old Reedbed Hide into a new Reedbed Viewing Platform. This project has been on hold, as previous efforts were often thwarted by the resident wildlife! It should go pretty quick and be ready well in advance of the winter water rail and snipe arriving and the marsh harrier roosts in late autumn.

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