Page 4 - Out Birding Autumn 2024

Event Reports
Please send reports as a Word a􏰀achment or in the body of an email to Pat: pat.cro􏰁on@b􏰂nternet.com
Pulborough Brooks 27/04 & 02/05 2024
My normal practice with this annual visit to Pulborough Brooks is primarily to try and see the Nightingales. The previous two years I ran the event on two different days and restricted numbers to 9 members to avoid the bureaucracy of agreeing the dates with the RSPB. However, because of its popularity I still ran the event on two different dates and agreed the dates with the RSPB - an approach I am likely to repeat next year.
On Saturday we saw 63 species of birds. Despite leaving careful instructions with all the birds on Saturday, some refused to appear again on Thursday (probably because it was overcast on Thursday and none of us had telescopes on Saturday), when we saw 50 species. The combined species list was 69 including a wader which is either a Ringed Plover or Little Ringed Plover.
Highlights were:
10 members on Saturday
13 members on Thursday (22 members in total because Mark attended twice).
One Great White Egret
Avocets
Hearing Cuckoo (seen by one member)
Swift on Thursday
Hearing Nightingale (It is estimated that there are at least 5 males at the reserve. Some of us actually saw the Nightingale by the car park on Thursday)
Garganey on Saturday
Hobby on Saturday
A few of us saw Whimbrel and Spotted Redshank on Saturday
One person heard a Lesser Whitethroat
Mark
Knepp Wilding 04/05/2024
What a glorious day we had at Knepp! The weather, the birds in song and the animals all co-operated to produce a great day of birding and sightseeing. Several members in the group had never been to Knepp before and benefited from all the changes made over the winter: a new large shop; a very large old barn café with toilets and adjacent alfresco ea􏰂ng area; a smaller barn converted into a wildlife art exhibi􏰂on space.
Eleven of us started on the new yellow path but soon diverted to old footpaths in the main estate. A bank of wild flowers a􏰀racted several bu􏰀erflies – Orange Tip; Green- veined White; Large White; Holly Blue and later a Brimstone and Painted Lady. Soon we arrived at the farmhouse where the regular White Stork nest there gave us good views of nest 􏰂dying, partners exchanging places on the nest and bill clacking.
4