Lapwings arriving to stake nesting territory
Lapwing flocks in the Arun Valley are breaking up and these waders are heading off for their nesting grounds, like the wet grasslands at Arundel Wetland Centre. The birds arrive here in February and soon the males will start display flights and calls. In March the females will lay 4-5 stone coloured eggs in scrape nests dotted around the grassland.
Our Reserve team put a Bushnell camera trap in the Lapwing hide after finding owl pellets there recently. Last Friday & Sat the infrared camera captured footage of a barn owl perching, preening, stretching and scratching in the hide rafters between hunting runs. It stayed for a rest between 12-3 am before departing for its day roost between 4-5 am.
Recent sightings:
Along the paths
- bullfinch
- kingfishers
- song thrush
- goldcrest
- firecrest
- water rail
- long-tailed tits (small flocks breaking up, pairs forming)
Woodland Loop
- great spotted woodpecker (drumming)
- goldfinch
- blue tits
- coal tits
- great tits
- chaffinch (started singing on sunny days)
Lost Reedbed
- marsh harrier (roost, all 6 sighted last Saturday during the late opening Evening Roost event)
Reedbeds
- Water rail
- Reed bunting
- gadwall ducks
- great tit
- wren
- sparrowhawk
Lagoons
Ramsar, Sand Martin & Scrape
- goldcrest
- bullfinch
- teal
- shoveler ducks
- snipe
- tufted ducks
- shelducks
- little grebe
- kestrel (above)
- little egret
Wetlands Discovery
- pochard ducks
- tufted ducks
- goldcrest
- bullfinch
- kingfisher
- buzzard
Arun Riverlife
- kingfisher
- tufted ducks
- pochard
- teal
- water rail
Wet Grasslands
from Lapwing & Ramsar hides
- snipe
- teal
- lapwing (breeding pairs arriving as flocks break up)
