Oystercatcher chick and juvenile kingfisher
On Sunday Reserve Warden Suzi Lanaway spotted two fledged lapwing chicks with their parents across from the Ramsar hide.
This was good news because we hadn’t had a chick sighting for weeks. That isn’t unusual when the vegetation gets tall - it's difficult to spot them. We had heard the parents giving contact calls to chicks and the adults continued to mob herring gulls and crows, both signs there was at least one survivor among the four chicks spotted on April 28.
A juvenile kingfisher continues to be spotted on site – last seen on Sunday at the Scrape hide. Look for a kingfisher with duller feather, grey legs and a white tip on its beak. We think there are two fledgling kingfishers but we have not seen them both at the same time so we can’t confirm our theory. These fledglings are the offspring of the pair in that nested on Arun Riverlife lagoon in the artificial bank. The pair of kingfishers nesting in the left arm of the Sand Martin hide are still feeding young in the nest.
Several sand martins are nesting in the right arm of the nesting bank on the Sand Martin hide. We won’t know the number of nests until we check at the end of the season after the martin migrate south.
The pair of oystercatchers still have their chick in area outside the Coastal Creek aviary (above). They continue to aggressively mob herring gulls to protect their chick who is looking quite chunky and well fed!
Wed 8 June
Arun Riverlife lagoon: 6 tufted ducks plus one female with 4 ducklings
Pelican Cove: 4 pochard including one duckling, 7 tufted ducks
Coastal Creek reedbed: 1 oystercatcher and chick,1 coot
Lakes & Forest exhibit: 4 tufted ducks
Trumpeter swan pen: 1 female moorhen and two chicks, a pair of tufted ducks and three ducklings
Woodland Loop: a great spotted woodpecker
Sussex screen: 1 male gadwall
Scrape hide: 1 mute swans, 1 chiffchaff, 2 blue tits, 11 mallards, 2 male Cetti’s warblers, 1 wren, 1 pochard, 1 chaffinch, 2 tufted ducks, 2 moorhens, 1 coot, 6 sand martins, 2 reed warblers, 1 grey heron, 1 male shelduck
Sand martin hide: 1 pair of oystercatchers, 3 male shoveler, 4 tufted ducks, 3 mute swans, c20 sand martins, 20 black headed gull with 2 chicks
Ramsar hide: 1 pochard, 2 adults lapwing with 1 fledged chick, 62 male gadwall with 4 females, 1 shelduck
Lapwing hide: 1 pair of lapwing
Tues 7 June
Ramsar & Sand martin hides: 74 gadwall, 1 cackling goose, 1 male mandarin, 5 shovelers, a pair of lapwing with two fledglings, 9 tufted ducks, 15 mallards including 4 ducklings, 6 coots, 66 black-headed gulls, a pair of oystercatchers, 5 lesser black-backed gulls, 1 mute swans, 1 pochard, 12 sand martins, 1 moorhen
Pelican Cove: 1 pochard, two oystercatchers with chick
Mon 6 June
Pelican Cove: 1 adult pochard with 1 duckling, 2 oystercatchers with 1 chick
Arun Riverlife: 15 tufted ducks, 1 male kingfisher on perch
Ramsar & Sand Martin hide: 1 shoveler, 3 pochards, 2 mute swans, c5 sand martin
Wetland Discovery: 1 kestrel
Woodland loop: 1 mandarin
Sun 5 June
Arun Riverlife: 1 pochard.
Pelican Cove: 1 adult pochard and one duckling, 2 adult oystercatchers and 1 chick
Wetland Discovery: 1 moorhen, 1 1 greylag adult with 3 young, 1 kingfisher
Ramsar hide: 2 adult lapwing with 2 young, 63 gadwall, 1 cattle egret, c40 lesser black-backed gulls.
Sand martin hide: 2 oystercatchers, 2 mute swans
Scrape hide: juvenile kingfisher visiting regularly
Sat 4 June
Arun Riverlife lagoon: 2 mute swans, 1 moorhen, 1 coot, 4 male mallards, 4 tufted ducks, 9 black-headed gulls, 1 gadwall, 1 kestrel
Pelican Cove: 3 male, one female pochard and one duckling, 6 house martins, 2 adult oystercatchers with 1 chick, 2 mullein moth caterpillars on figwort
Woodland Loop: 2 mallards with 6 well grown ducklings, blue tits and fledglings – noisy crew!
Ramsar & Sand Martin hide: 2 pochard, 1 kingfisher flying out of nest hole and across the lake, 1 oystercatcher on left island, 8 sand martins
Lapwing hide: 2 lapwing calling at back of the grassland
Offham hangar: 2 peregrines – 1 perched and 1 flying
