Wildlife face spring-like days but wintry nights
This is Grounds Manager Paul Stevens’ weekly Wildlife Sighting column as seen in the Chichester Observer and Worthing Herald newspapers, published March 10, 2016.
I spotted a well camouflaged a snipe blending at the edge of the reeds across from the Scrape hide in the chill of the morning. At the end of March or early April most of the snipe will start their spring journey north with only a few pairs staying in Sussex to breed.
The sunny days have been saying ‘spring’ but the overnight temperatures insist it’s still winter. Most wildlife is finding itself somewhere in between the two. Blue tits and great tits are checking out nest boxes and singing. The Cetti’s warblers are singing and we are hearing spots of song from wrens, dunnocks and robins but this is mostly in the afternoon when the day is at its warmest. In the cold temperature eating takes priority over finding a mate. I watched a flock of six redpolls under an alder tree frantically picking fallen seed from the small cones. But a sure sign of spring at the wetlands is that coltsfoot is now in flower. Its bright yellow flowers can be seen in our car park and in the butterfly garden.
Many species have already paired up. Long tailed tits were still in flocks a few weeks ago but know are in pairs and have selected their territories. Teal ducks are in pairs and we have four pair of shoveler ducks onsite. I saw a pair of wigeon from the Sand Martin hide last Sunday as well. The lapwings have been performing fewer display flights because of the cold but they do get going when the sun is out. I watched three male pochards performing to get the attention of one female on the waters of Arun Riverlife from the cafe windows on Sunday. The ratio of males-to-females onsite is quite high so I am hoping more female pochards will come in.
The Siberian chiff chaff is still onsite. Visitors have been reporting sighting Mediterranean gulls in with the black-headed and herring gulls. I have heard the ‘Med’ gulls but haven’t spotted them yet. I saw three little egrets roosting outside the Ramsar hide this morning. Now that the days are lighter for longer we are only seeing them in the mornings. I counted five little egrets wading in the flooded field next door last week around five pm.
