Latest sightings

Spring mallard ducklings hatching out

Wardens spotted our first spring clutch of ten mallard ducklings swimming around the edge of the Arun Riverlife lagoon following their mother last Sunday. The kingfishers are still at the nesting bank here especially in holes 10 and 8! Arun Riverlife seem

30 March 2021

Kingerfisher pair persisting at nesting bank

The kingfisher pair continue to perch around and enter a hole in the nesting bank on Arun Riverlife lagoon. We have daily sightings of the pair in and outside of a nest hole. Lapwing are also displaying on the lagoon with a pair mating and nest scraping

14 March 2021

Male lapwing display includes dive bombing gulls

The number of lapwings on the wet grassland has increased and we are seeing the males tumbling display flights and hearing their ‘slide-whistle’ calls. At Arun Riverlife lagoon two lapwing were dive bombing black-headed gulls that also look for nestin

6 March 2021

Kingfisher pair trying out our nesting bank

We’ve got high hopes that a pair of kingfishers will settle down in our specially designed kingfisher nesting bank on the Arun Riverlife lagoon this year. We have been seeing our favourite fishing birds going into nesting holes.

28 February 2021

Spring is in the air

Spring is definitely springing, with the sound of great and blue tits, robins, blackbirds, chaffinch, greenfinch and Cetti’s warbler all singing madly. Dunnocks too, whilst displaying in their semaphore-like way! This long-tailed tit with nesting materi

24 February 2021

Winter survey count includes 14 Bewick's swans

The Wetland bird survey (WeBS) monitors the UK's internationally important non-breeding waterbirds. We count once per month, providing data for population and trends in abundance and distribution. Surveying inside our boundries we also survey the surround

16 February 2021

Wintery weather with some spring behaviours

It’s been very wintery week with snow and very low temperatures on the reserve, especially last Monday. The cold has brought many birds to the feeders in the Wood Loop especially now that other sources of food are running low. Nonetheless subtle spring

11 February 2021

Common gulls on spring passage & toads on the move

Big numbers of common gulls have been moving through the reserve with spring passage underway. Wardens counted 200 common gulls last Friday, 110 today with nine Mediterranean gulls mixed in. Individual male lapwings have been breaking off the main flock

4 February 2021

Flock of siskins in hedgerow

On Monday a flock of 27 siskins was spotted in the hedge opposite Pelican Cove exhibit. No doubt they were after the seeds from the tiny alder cones to eat. Siskin are more common at garden bird feeders these days too, especially in late winter. The mal

29 January 2021

Bewick's in the valley & big lapwing count

Wardens counted 210 lapwing at Arundel during the Wetland Birds Survey (WeBS) on Sunday 17 Jan. We had word that there are 11 Bewick's swans in the Arun Valley. We are keeping an eye out in the late afternoons, hoping they may come in to roost here if it

21 January 2021

Green & greater spotted woodpeckers

The weather has warmed up from a chilly -6 degrees last Sunday morning but we are still are seeing a larger numbers of birds than in previous years coming in for the evening roost, like the 84 lapwing counted on Tuesday at 4pm. On Tuesday we spotted a

14 January 2021

Icy days bring in over 200 roosting lapwing

Frozen Friday had 40 wigeon visible from the Sand Martin hide. This week the cold weather has formed ice on shallow water throughout the Arun Valley so we are seeing greater numbers of shovelers (80 on Sat 2 Jan), wigeon, and shelducks. We had a record nu

9 January 2021

Icy mornings increase wildfowl numbers

Cold weather has increased the numbers of wildfowl onsite. We counted over 100 lapwing on the back island from the Sand Martin hide on Tuesday 29 Dec and Wed 30 Dec. Tues 29 Dec Ramsar & Sand Martin hide: 40 greylag geese, 21 teal, 2 grey heron, 34 sho

30 December 2020

Lots of lapwing from Ramsar & Sand martin hides

Lapwing have been coming into the deeper scrape between the Ramsar and Sand martin hides with the count peaking at 80 lapwing last Friday.Kingfishers have been showing on Arun Riverlife lagoon and at several hides. We recorded kingfisher activity in and

22 December 2020

Red wings on the long path this week

The lagoon between the Ramsar hide and the Sand martin hide is THE spot for snipe now with 19 recorded there on Tuesday morning. Teal numbers remain strong and a handful of lapwing are showing up on site each day. Look out for stonechats, redwings and gol

12 December 2020