Latest sightings

Oystercatchers return

A pair of oyster catchers were spotted feeding in the grass around Pelican Cove yesterday. The pair moved over to the rocky island on Arun Riverlife lagoon in Tuesday afternoon. We think this is one of our regular nesting pairs - likely the pair who have

22 February 2023

Common, black-headed & Mediterranean gulls

Large numbers of common gulls have been onsite this week - they have arrived a bit late this winter. There are fewer Mediterranean gulls in the mix than usual -but with high gull numbers and the Med. gulls not all fully coloured up and often sitting wit

16 February 2023

Pintails, wigeon, pochards & teal

There was a pair of pintail at the Sand martin hide this morning along with 8 pochard and 4 wigeon. Good numbers of teal around and snipe back in front of Ramsar hide, Scrape hide and even one on the Arun Riverlife lagoon. Lots of lapwing still between Ra

8 February 2023

Lapwing, teal & gadwall numbers back up after the thaw

Now that our waterways have thawed lapwing numbers are back up with the highest count 120 last Saturday. We’ve pochards onsite too – on Arun Riverlife, Pelican Cove and Wetland Discovery. A pair of pochard nested on Pelican Cove last year so we are ke

31 January 2023

Bullfinches along Tranquil Trail

Bullfinches have been showing in the hedgerows along the Long path and Tranquil Trail. Sightings of these bright birds (the males) in the trees of the Reedswamp exhibit as well. Visitors reported spotting firecrests last weekend as well. They usually s

24 January 2023

Displaying teal on the icy scrape

Teal, gadwall and shoveler are present in good numbers from Ramsar, Sand Martin and Scrape hides, with shelduck dotted amongst them. Pair bonds are forming and the array of display between species is an often comical sight. Teal were calling and the males

17 January 2023

Peregrines, sparrowhawk and kestrel onsite

Birds of prey sightings this week include our regular kestrel visiting a few times and sightings of a peregrine and a sparrow hawk. A great spotted woodpecker is showing frequently in the Wood Loop now and this week we had a green woodpecker at the far en

12 January 2023

Teal numbers increase

Thirty-four teal were on the water between the Ramsar and Sand martin hides on Tues 3 Jan, with 17 teal at the Lapwing hide on Mon 2 and 17 teal on the Scrape hide Sat 31 Dec. On Fri 30 Dec our Grounds team counted five pochards on the Arun Riverlife lago

2 January 2023

Lapwing flock to Ramsar islands

Lapwing numbers are up with c250 in on Wednesday morning on the islands between the Sand Martin and Ramsar hides. Our outdoor teams flushed up 72 snipe while working on the wet grassland Wednesday as well. Thurs 29 Dec Arun Riverlife: 10 pochard, 1 co

29 December 2022

Black-tailed godwits & red kites

On Monday two red kites were playing over our front reedbed, car park and Mill road, enjoying the warmer air and updrafts off the Offfham hangar. Then the pair would drop low, around twenty feet above the visitor centre. A buzzard was doing similar only n

20 December 2022

Increasing lapwing numbers

Last weekend we had about 70 lapwing in each day. On Monday our Reserve staff counted 163 lapwing between Ramsar and Sand Martin hide and more in the air. At 3.30 pm there was still about 70 lapwing on the third islands there along with a very annoyed cor

5 December 2022

Lapwings, bullfinches & grebes

The juvenile great crested grebe was still on site this morning between the Ramsar hide and the Sand martins. Our usual little grebe (dabchick) was there as well although going after much smaller fish! The new gravel islands are proving popular with cormo

21 November 2022

Sea eagle, great crested grebe & teal

Its been a week of wild, rainy and windy weather! We sighted one of the white tailed eagles again on Mon 7 Nov, flying over the reserve from the Offham Hangar. On Saturday and Monday a juvenile great crested grebe was onsite seen from the Ramsar hide. A l

9 November 2022

White Tailed eagle sightings

Two white-tailed eagles, also known as sea eagles have been spotted over our site since daily last Sun 30 Oct. Red kites have also been spotted near the eagles, and sometimes it is just a solo eagle. We have been seeing the eagles off and on all month.

1 November 2022

Great egret around all week

A great egret has been onsite all week, moving between the lagoon at Ramsar and Sand martin hides and the water at Scrape hide. We are getting up to 14 little egrets in to roost at the end of the day. Visitor Martin Watson took this photo of the great egr

19 October 2022