Little egret & Oystercatcher chicks
It’s been a really lively start to June, with lots going on across the reserve.
The little egrets are doing well this year, with a couple on nests and chicks already showing. It’s a great sign that they’re finding plenty of food around the wetlands, and seeing a juvenile at the nest edges suggests things are progressing nicely for them.
The oystercatchers are having a strong season. The pair at the Sand martin hide still has both of their chicks in tow. You can really see how active and protective the adults are at this time of year, sticking close to their young on the islands. The pair on Arun Riverlife lagoon are still sitting their nest on the island but this pair settled much later than the other pair on site. They initially tried to use the land at the back of Pelican Cove.
The sand martins have been hard to miss, with big numbers recorded most days. There’s constant movement at the nesting bank, with birds flying in and out of the holes and feeding low over the water. The noise and activity adds a lot of life to the hide. Now that their first broods have fledged, the martins can be seen all over at most hides, hawking insects over the water. A pair has been seen going in and out of one of the holes on the Arun Rverlife lagoon - will they try to take this over next year?
The mute swan pair seem to have 3 cygnets remaining and we are seeing second broods of mallard ducklings and moorhens about on the ditches. There are many scruffy juvenile greylag and Canada geese on the paths as well.
Highlights: marsh harrier pair, reed buntings, little egeret chicks, water vole, heard a cuckoo, linnets
Monday 8 June
Waterside Walk: great spotted woodpecker
Lapwing Hide: 1 reed warbler, 1 sedge warbler, 1 great tit, 1 mallard
Ramsar and Sand Martin Hides: 3 linnets, 2 lapwing, 3 shelducks, 1 little egret, 1 oystercatcher
Scrape Hide Pond: 1 reed bunting
Scrape Hide: 2 shelducks, 1 goosander
Reedbed: 2 marsh harriers
Woodland Loop: 2 great spotted woodpeckers, 1 coal tit
Sunday 7 June
Wetland Discovery Area: 1 juvenile sedge warbler, 2 reed warblers, 2 mallards, 2 blue tits, 1 wood pigeon, 1 carrion crow, 1 Cetti’s warbler, 3 chiffchaffs
Arun Riverlife: 1 sand martin in hole 5 of the kingfisher bank
Ramsar and Sand Martin Hides: 2 little egrets on nest, 1 lapwing, 11 juvenile black-headed gulls, c.40 sand martins
Scrape Hide: c.20 sand martins, 4 shelducks with 2 young in a family group
Saturday 6 June
Arun Riverlife Lagoon: 1 mute swan, 3 tufted ducks, 5 gadwall, 2 mallards, 2 wood pigeons, 1 moorhen, 1 oystercatcher, 1 Cetti’s warbler
Ramsar and Sand Martin Hide: 3 little egrets on nest with chick, 2 oystercatchers with 2 chicks, 1 female goosander
Friday 5 June
Woodland Loop: 4 moorhens, 1 coot, 9 mallards, 2 robins, 1 jackdaw, 1 great spotted woodpecker, 2 chaffinches, 4 blue tits, 2 great tits, 2 mandarins
Reedbed Willow Sphere: 1 willow warbler
Thursday 4 June
Ramsar Hide: 1 barn owl hunting over wet grassland, 2 little egrets (including 1 juvenile on nest at edge of nesting tree), 24 juvenile black-headed gulls, 2 lapwing, 2 oystercatchers with 2 chicks, c.40 sand martins
Woodland Loop: 1 mallard with 5 ducklings
Scrape Hide: c.10 sand martins
Arun Riverlife Lagoon: 1 oystercatcher on island
Reedbed: 4 mallards, 1 wren, 1 wood pigeon, 1 magpie, 2 robins, 2 long-tailed tits, c.5 sand martins, 1 willow warbler, 2 blue tits, 1 moorhen
Wednesday 3 June
Arun Riverlife Lagoon: 1 oystercatcher on the island nest, 1 pochard
Pelican Cove: 2 tufted ducks
Lakes & Forests Exhibit: 5 gadwall
Woodland Pond Exhibit: 1 male mandarin
Woodland Loop: 5 mandarin ducks
Reedbed: 1 marsh harrier being mobbed by a lapwing
Reedbed Willow Sphere: 1 male gadwall
Scrape Hide: 1 reed bunting, 2 Cetti’s warblers, c.30 gadwall, 54 tufted ducks, 2 coots, 1 wren, 1 blackbird, c.30 sand martins, 1 moorhen, 2 shovelers, 1 female marsh harrier, 1 mallard, 1 great spotted woodpecker, 1 goldfinch, 1 blue tit, 1 wood pigeon, 1 reed warbler
Sand Martin Hide: pair of oystercatchers with 2 chicks, 10 black-headed gulls with 10 chicks, c.80 sand martins, 4 tufted ducks with ducklings, 2 gadwall
Bewick’s Swan Exhibit: 1 male mandarin
Waterside Walk: 4 tufted ducks, 2 mute swans with 3 cygnets, 1 male pochard
Ramsar Hide: 7 tufted ducks, 1 cormorant, 8 gadwall, 5 black-headed gulls with 5 chicks, 3 little egrets, 2 lapwing
Tuesday 2 June
Ramsar and Sand Martin Hide: 1 cormorant, 2 little egrets, 11 tufted ducks, 56 gadwall, 2 shovelers, 3 mallards, 3 Canada geese, 60 black-headed gulls, 5 coots, 2 moorhens, c.60 sand martins, 1 lapwing mobbing a crow then returning to its nest, 2 oystercatchers with 2 chicks
Waterside Walk Area: 2 mute swans with 3 cygnets, 3 pochards
Scrape Hide: 2 Egyptian geese, c.20 sand martins, 1 great white egret
Ramsar Hide: 1 reed warbler singing next to the hide
Monday 1 June
Lapwing Hide: 1 reed warbler, 1 sedge warbler, 1 mallard, 2 reed buntings, 1 wren
Tranquil Trail: 1 bullfinch
Ramsar and Sand Martin Hide: 2 gadwall, 1 little egret, 1 mallard–tufted duck hybrid with 2 ducklings, 2 oystercatchers with 2 chicks, c.80 sand martins
Scrape Hide: c.60 sand martins, 1 water vole
Reedbed Boardwalk: 1 green woodpecker
Arun Riverlife Lagoon: 2 oystercatchers
Back of Reedbed: heard a cuckoo
