CROYDON RSPB MEMBERS' GROUP - TRIP REPORT

Our day's visit to the valley of the River Arun began just to the north of Arundel, at Swanbourne Lake, where, scanning the water from one corner only, we noted several gadwall, pairs of pochard and tufted duck, a single little grebe and one or two ducks of complicated ancestry. Crossing the road, we found the wooded margins of the old mill stream rather quiet, although we did see a bullfinch and two late-staying (or wintering?) chiffchaffs. We also heard one or more Cetti's warblers singing from the depths of the thickets within the WWT reserve, although at subdued volume compared with spring or summer song. On our way back to the cars, one otherwise unremarkable small bush was found to contain two wrens, two chaffinches, a robin, a dunnock and one of the chiffchaffs.

For the second session of the morning, we moved further up the valley, driving and then walking up onto the Downs above the hamlet of North Stoke. At first, the cultivated slopes here appeared to be rather empty of birds, apart from distant gulls and crows and the occasional pheasants that dashed for cover at our approach. Before long, however, we began to hear calls carried on the wind and, checking through binoculars, we found that numerous small brown birds were feeding in the ploughed fields around us, very well camouflaged against the chalky soil. Most of these proved to be skylarks, but small parties of linnets were also seen and a flock of about ten corn buntings made identification easy by landing nearby in gorse bushes ringing an old dew-pond. Although a stiff breeze was blowing across the open downland, we found that several red admiral butterflies and a cluster of common darter dragonflies were active in the sheltered lee of a small copse.

The afternoon was spent at Pulborough Brooks RSPB reserve. From Nettley Hide, wigeon were the most numerous waterfowl on the flood, although pintail, teal and shoveler were also plentiful. Lapwings were conspicuous too, but the presence of a hundred or so snipe wasn't suspected until they, and many of the ducks, were put to flight by the arrival of a large female sparrowhawk. The Hanger provided a broader panorama of the flood, as well as glimpses of passerines active around bushes in the foreground - redwings, song thrushes, blackbirds, tits and some more bullfinches. The highlight of the day's birding came late on, as the sun was setting over the Downs - having already watched one short-eared owl engaged in a lengthy high-altitude running battle with a crow, we were treated to close-range views of two (a male and a female*) from Winpenny Hide, as they hunted at low level over the rough pasture along the river bank.

(*Subsequent research on short-eared owl i.d.: 'Adult female has distinctly deeper buff ground colour overall, including facial disc, underwing coverts and, most noticeably, underparts').