Wildlife to watch for in Spring

Spring has been cool this year, and spring wildlife has gotten off to a late start.

The weather sets the timetable: warmer days can bring things forward, but cooler temperatures slow them down. By the time March goes out like a lamb, spring will be underway with wildlife awakening throughout the wetlands.

Kingfishers on the Arun Riverlife lagoon

Kingfishers are onsite all year around but in early March the males chase each other to define their territories. We have bee seeing a female onsite but she seems to be waiting for her male. Visit the Discovery hide to watch for this pair who have nested at the Kingfisher Bank on the Arun Riverlife lagoon in recent years. Kingfisher incubation is about 20 days, with fledging in 25 days. The kingfishers usually have more than one brood a year.

A kingfisher male entering nest hole, Photo by Mike Jerome

Swirls of Sand martins

In early April watch for swirls of sand martins moving through the site. In mixed flocks with house martins and swallows, the birds move on their way northwards, returning from winter homes in Africa and Europe. The photo of sand martins at our Sand martin hide above was taken by visitor Chris Bishop and was the winning pic in our Waterlife Magazine's 2022 photo competition.

A record number of 83 sand martin nests were counted in annual autumn checks at WWT Arundel Wetland Centre on Tuesday 1 October. The number of nest in our sand martin colony has been almost doubling each year for the past five years so we hope this number will build again this spring. Reserve Manager Suzi Lanaway said: “Five of the nest chambers in the banks have been used every year for the past three years.”

The back view of a nest hole chambers in the Sand martin hide in Oct 2024

Wildcard: Cattle egrets

Cattle egrets nested for the first time at WWT Arundel Wetland Centre last October. There was seven nests in total and we confirmed a count of six fledglings but there were likely more. We are getting lots of cattle egrets in over night and their breeding plummages is starting so will we see chicks this spring, summer or autumn?

Two cattle egret chicks October 2024 Photo: Andy Burns

Lapwing behaviours

Lapwing flock broke up in February but about 8 birds have remained onsite. Six are on the wet grassland between Ramsar and Sand Martin hide and one pair seems to be on the fen cut of Arun Riverlife lagoon. The male lapwings have been displaying with ‘slide-whistle’ calls and tumbling display flights and there has been nest scraping going on. Lapwings make shallow scrape nests in short vegetation offering them good sight lines to watch for predators where they lay four to five eggs, mottled to look like small stones. Look out for lapwing from the Lapwing hide, the Ramsar hide and along the back of the Arun Riverlife lagoon.

Barn Owlets and a Tawny

We have barn owls onsite year around using our owl boxes to roost in during the winter and for nesting in spring. The owls use the roof beams in the Lapwing and Ramsar to hunting from, leaving tell-tale owl whitewash and pellets. We will check our owl nest boxes in June for owlets when it’s ringing time. Last year year one box was used by tawny owlets - a young tawny owlet was branching n May on one of the island on Wetlands Discovery area.

Fluffy tawny owlet on Discovery area last May 2024. (photo Rob & Diane Collins)

Oystercatcher pairs

Keep an eye out for the two pairs of oyster catchers who nest here each spring. One pair has been spotted but seem to be moving about. One pair has used the area near the Coastal Creek aviary for past three years but a water rail in the area may prevent them from using this spot. One pair like to nest on the roof of the Sand martin hide or amid the black-headed gull colony on one of the little islands nearby. Both pairs usually manage to fully rear at least one chick each.

Oystercatcher pair on Arun Riverlife lagoon earlier this March 2025

April is ducky

Look out for clutches of newly hatched mallard ducklings along the edges of most waterways. Pochards will have paired up with the females disappearing looking for nesting spots. For the Last two years we have seen pochard parents raise ducklings on Pelican Cove!

Shoveler duck females also disappear leaving males predominately on the water. Greylag and Canada geese started holding territory in February so look for them on nests in late-March early April. We've already seen a few early clutches of mallard ducklings, but its been a cold spring and they have not survived.

Spring chorus

Listen for spring singing from chiffchaffs and black caps - the loudest song and from all over the site will be the Cetti’s warblers and wrens. Great-spotted woodpecker often drum in Woodland Loop and we have been seeing one near the feeders at "Robin's Gate". Joining in are sedge, reed and Cetti’s warblers, as well as song thrushes, blackcaps and goldcrests.We have two Dawn Chorus Walks you can book this spring. Visit our "What's On" page for details here

Reed warblers join in the spring singing

Bees & Butterflies

Watch for peacock, brimstone and red admiral butterflies emerging on warmer days in late March and early April. They spend the winter as adult butterflies in a dormant state, tucked into the cracks in trees and buildings. Many other butterflies winter as caterpillars, a chrysalis or an egg, hatching or transforming into butterflies later in spring and summer.

Hairy-footed flowers bees hatch in early spring. These solitary bees nest in groups – look for them around the Sand martin hide. The females are all black and the males are red-brown with a whitish face.

Buff-tailed bumblebee and common carder bumble bees are early bees. They will be looking for looking for nectar on early flowering tree catkins. Other early spring flowers that are vital nectar sources for insects are marsh marigolds, red dead nettle, colt’s foot, lady smock and primroses.

Warm sunshine days will also bring out newly hatched bee flies – these striped furry flies with pretty patterned wings use a long proboscis for nectar.