Morning at Pulborough

A disappointing day, mostly overcast. 

A nice Ruff was in close at Westmead as were a pair of noisily mating Redshanks.

Duck numbers  now substantially reduced with most Wigeon and Pintail departed.

A single Adder warming in the occasional bout of sunshine but no first Orange Tip for the year despite plenty of Cuckooflower.

Lunch with CL on the terrace where 7+ Fieldfares below and to the left of the fenceline were a nice surprise; I've seen very few winter thrushes this year.

One of several bees on the tea terrace garden was taken away for ID.

No photos today.

Local

Tuesday

Nomada zonata, Melangyna cincta and Leucophora spp (most likely obtusa (False House Fly aka Hairy Bee-shadower) below

Today

Epistrophe eligans, Peacock, Bluebell spp/hybrid, Nomada spp all below

Also seen Peacock(4), Comma(1), Small White(2), Brimstone(1)

Bee-fly (10-20) and a single Andrena cineraria

Med Gull 5, Cettis Warbler 2

Chichester, briefly

On arrival the female Peregrine was on the east face. EDIT. 24 hours later she laid the first egg.

A Raven flew into the usual tree and a couple of Grey Wagtails, one singing, were over the cross. Kestrel and Buzzards were en route.

The Wildlife Garden seems less wildlife-friendly than before although there are lots of old logs for Stag Beetles.

GWH today

Buzzards, three Red  Kites, two high calling and soaring Sparrowhawks

A few heards - Firecrest, Green Woodpecker and common birds. 

Plenty of newts in the very clear pond, not sure whether Palmate or Smooth.

Few insects and no butterflies.

(Snake's head Fritillary - Fritillaria meleagris- Anemone blanda also called Windflower)

WWT in fine weather

WWT Arundel, Mill Rd, Arundel BN18 9PB, UK on 18/03/2026, 10:00 - 13:30. 57 spp

Birdtrack list

(Eupeodes luniger female, Andrena nitida, Brimstone, Coot with young, Cuckooflower)

A brighter week on the cards

Locally, the pond was very empty with no Tufted Ducks nor Cormorants and only a couple  of dozen gulls - maybe due to earlier presence of water quality engineers out in an inflatable. 

A number of these Lassioglossums were doing their best on the warm but rather rough ground in front of a bench. Unsurprisingly, Andrena flavipes outnumbered all other insects by a factor of 10+!! This female Hairy-foot was first of the year but there were plenty of males and a few Bee Flies.

Eristalis pertinax (not photographed) and this Platycheirus albimanus were it for hovers and this Anthomyiidae was the only fly I bothered to photograph.

Rather surprised to not hear any Blackcaps today in nice sunny conditions. A single Buzzard was dodging crows. This swan's nest has at least one egg in this very exposed site; not sure they'll succeed here especially this early in the year but time will tell.

And finally, Peacock was the only butterfly.

Zilch

The tail end of the week, mostly cold, cloudy and damp has produced virtually nothing. A short walk around the bottom of a very windy QECP produced just a temporarily confiding Bank Vole under the usual refugium. The pond work, below, looks to be complete and some replanting has been done. Time will tell!

Another cold and cloudy visit to Sainsburys again produced numerous west-bound, calling Med Gulls and the Cettis in the south hedge was still audible over the traffic.