Mandarin ducklings, great egret & sand martin sightings
This week’s highlights include a marsh harrier sighting over the reedbeds at 1pm on Monday. Could they be nesting there?
We also had a great white egret in on Wednesday at the Scrape hide. Kingfishers continue to pop in and out of nest hole number 5 on the nesting bank at Arun Riverlife.
A kingfisher has still been seen at the Sand martin hide fishing from perches at the back of the water. The hide also had 8 sand martins going in and out of holes on the right wing of the hide’s nesting bank. A pair of cackling geese hatched 4 goslings we spotted on Tuesday from Ramsar hide.
In the Woodland Loop area a pair of mandarin ducks are parading 7 ducklings in the Trumpeter pen. Mandarins nest in trees which is why they are in the woody area.
Wed 18 May
Arun Riverlife lagoon: 5 tufted ducks, 1 lapwing
Pelican Cove: a pair of gadwall, a pair of pochard with 1 duckling
Coast Creek Island: 1 female oystercatcher on nest
Meadow pond: a pair of mandarins with 7 ducklings, a male gadwall
Woodland Loop: 1 male mandarin, a great-spotted woodpecker.
Sussex Screen: 1 male tufted duck, mute swan on nest
Scrape hide: 1 great white egret, 1 shelduck, 1 shoveler, 2 moorhens, a pair of lapwing, 14 mallards, 16 Canada geese, 1 male song thrush, 1 male reed bunting, 1 coot, 1 male reed warbler, 2 male gadwall, 3 pairs of tufted ducks, 1 robin, 1 male pochard, a pair of black-headed gulls.
Tues 17 May
Ramsar & Sand martin hides: 1 kingfisher fishing from perches at the back of the water, 8 sand martins in and out of holes on the right wing of the nesting bank, a pair of cackling geese with 4 goslings, 4 male and 32 female pochards, 2 male lapwing and 1 female lapwing calling to chick, 9 greylag geese, 1 mute swan, 7 Canada geese, 2 Egyptian geese, 32 gadwall, 11 mallards, 1 shoveler, 7 male and 5 female tufted ducks, 1 coot, 48 black0headed gulls, 1 male shelducks
Scrape hide: 1 great white egret, a pair of pochards
Lapwing hide: 1 male calling
Reedbed:1 moorhen with 3 chicks, 1 pair of moorhen with one chick.
Wood loop: 3 female mallards with ducklings, 1 moorhen chick alone, a pair of grey geese with 4 goslings, 1 nuthatch
Trumpeter Pen: a pair of mandarins with 7 ducklings
Pelican Cove: a pair of pochard with 1 duckling
Coastal Creek Island: 1 female oystercatcher on nest
Sparrow terrace on visitor centre: a blue tit nesting
Mon 16 May
Arun Riverlife: painted lady butterfly
Reedbed: 1 marsh harrier sighting at 1 pm
Sun 15 May
Wetland Discovery area: 4 male mallards and 3 female mallards, 1 male gadwall, 4 Canada geese, a Canada goose paired with a greylag goose and 4 hybrid goslings
Ramsar hide: 2 lapwing mobbing a grow and calling chick, 2 greater black-backed gulls, 3 male and 1 female pochard
Sand martin hide: 1 oystercatcher on the hide roof
Scrape hide: 1 lapwing.
Pelican Cove: Pelican Cove: a pair of pochard with 1 duckling
Coastal Creek Island: 1 female oystercatcher on nest
