There's a 'finchy' feel to the place
Redpoll on a seedhead at Arundel Wetland Centre Pic: Paul Stevens
Paul Stevens' Jan 14 weekly Wildlife Sighting column as seen in the Chichester Observer and Worthing Herald.
Wildlife guide Lizzy Pearce gave me a lift in on of the Wetland Safari boats to the little island with the owl nest box. I wanted to try a new angle with my Bushnell camera trap, determined to get footage of the barn owl other than the grainy 20 second clip I caught last week. The barn owl has been brave as late. He was perched outside the box as late as 9 am on Sunday morning. I just have to find the right angle for the camera trap.
On the way to the island Lizzy and I saw a flock of 15 siskins in the alder trees. Later Lizzy counted another flock of 50 of these lovely finches with their bold yellow wing bars . It’s definitely quite ‘finchy’ around Arundel Wetland Centre at the moment. Linnets, bullfinches, chaffinches and green finch have all been seen on site. I managed to snap a redpoll last week and many visitors have been reporting sightings here and in their own gardens.
Kingfishers are still spending a lot of time at the boat jetty and perching on the moored boats, to the delight of visitors and their cameras. Warden Sam Halpin saw a kingfisher perched up near the Scrape hide, fishing for ages from the same spot.
Water levels are quite high at the wetland reserve after recent rains and high tides. This could disperse the fish more widely across the site. Numbers of cormorant and grey herons have gone up but there are less little egrets on site.
The higher water has encouraged some ducks and driven others off. We have had 20+ shoveler ducks at all four major hides. Fourteen pochard ducks were seen in the Monday count on Arun Riverlife and at all the hides. Shelduck numbers have dropped across the site with these large ducks probably moving to the coast as they like land and high banks.
The high water has driven snipe back into view as the protective reeds drop below the current water line. The mild weather though has been a boon to water voles making appearances on the entry pond and in the dragonfly pond, dining on new plant growth.
