Warnham LNR - Latest Sightings

Depressaria daucella - Warnham LNR

Depressaria daucella - Warnham LNR

Walking around the Reserve at the moment you may well notice that some of the flowers of Hemlock Water Dropwort appear to be stunted and closed up. This is actually caused by a micro moth called Depressaria daucella. If you look closely you can see that the caterpillar has made a small tunnel to hide in when predators are around.

Horsham Green Gym - D. Jessop

 This week has also seen Horsham Green Gym return to the Reserve to carry on the development of the scrapes viewable from the Sandpiper Hide. The above image is how the new section started, with the area marked out and the diggers all looking eager!

Scrape Digging - D. Jessop

 Soon enough the group had started to make headway and before long the scrape was starting to take shape. There are several of these to dig out this summer so hopefully each of them will hold water later in the year to attract wading birds. When digging out a scrape it is essential that the edges are not to steep to allow the water to gradually recede during dry weather.

Finished Scrape - D. Jessop

And after a hard mornings work and plenty of biscuits the first scrape is done. Well done to everyone who came along it looks brilliant. Hopefully the rain forecast this weekend will fill up the first pool nicely. If you would like to come along for the next Horsham Green Gym session at the scrape they are next here on Thursday 3rd July.

MEGA Birds at Warnham LNR

Goldeneye - Warnham LNR

On Thursday I was out doing the hide rounds first thing in the morning and was just scanning through the Tufted Duck flock counting them as I went thinking how strange it was that there were quite a few more than on Wednesday when I clocked eyes on this stunning 1st summer drake GOLDENEYE. This was a first for me at Warnham LNR but I know there have been several other records in the past. Still it was as stunning looking duck which showed nicely all day even displaying to female Tufted Ducks on occasions.

Goldeneye - Warnham LNR

Goldeneye - Warnham LNR

After this excitement I was pretty much satisfied for the spring! At Warnham LNR we are far enough inland that we very rarely get much by way of really exciting passage birds such as Goldeneye, Black-necked Grebes or any waders so this really was a dream inland bird.

Avocet - Warnham LNR (1st for Reserve)

What happened on Saturday morning was even more amazing...Stuart was doing a birdwatching course early on Saturday in which he discovered a pair of Avocets which dropped in shortly after 9.30am and finally departed at c3.00pm. It was a truly unbelievable sight and one I hope I see again whilst working at the Reserve. Both birds did a lot of sleeping but it was fantastic to see them wake up and actually feeding using their unique upturned bills. The pair of Avocet represent the first record for Warnham LNR and I believe for the Horsham area too.

Common Tern - Warnham LNR

On Tuesday morning we heard the familiar call of the Common Tern and sure enough Stuart then clapped eyes onto the first returning bird of the spring. It soon settled down onto the goal post in front of Tern Hide and even made a few forays over to the new Tern Raft to check it out for size!

Common Tern Inspecting the Nesting Raft

The final surprise of the mad period was the arrival of a Redstart or quite possibly two Redstarts. The female type bird pictured below spent the evening hunting around Mill Meadow hopping from Bramble to Bramble avidly catching flies. A male was reported earlier in the day but sadly I could not relocate it in the evening.

Redstart - Warnham LNR

So this begs the question...will this be the end of the brilliant run of birds at Warnham or will it carry on. Other highlights over the period were a flyover Hobby, 6 Sand Martins and a flyover Linnet but more on these to come soon.

Warnham LNR - A Busy Weekend

A very busy week at Warnham LNR with plenty of new bits for you to come and look at. The bird nesting season is in full swing and we already have some little balls of fluff running around! At the top end of the Reserve on the new Scrape which is viewable form the 2nd Boardwalk or the new Sandpiper Hide Mrs Mallard has been proudly showing off her 11 little ducklings.

We have also had a couple of other visitors to the new Scrape which should start to slowly drop in water level as the year progresses. The first of the new visitors was this stunning male Shoveler. I am pretty sure it is the male which has spent the winter on the millpond relocating but he certainly seems to be happy there as is regularly heard calling to attract a mate.

Shoveler - Sandpiper Hide

Shoveler - Sandpiper Hide

This morning there was also a Stock Dove drinking from the edge of the stream as well as pair of Mandarin which were mating on the island. A flyover Common Buzzard sent the Mallard ducklings scattering for cover but they soon reappeared to carry on feeding on the emergent weeds.

Stock Dove - Warnham LNR

We have also had a pair of Grey Wagtails which seem to be finding plenty to eat along the edges of the muddy scrape. Whilst on the subject of Grey Wagtails we seem to be blessed with three pairs this year and our recorder Jo Glossop managed to take this stunning image last week.

Grey Wagtail - J. Glossop

We have also had a number of migrant birds arriving with two White Wagtails flying over on Saturday morning as well as numerous Chiffchaff's spread all around the Reserve. On Friday we heard our first Blackcap of this spring followed by another on Saturday morning in the Courtyard.

Chiffchaff - Warnham LNR

What will this week bring...well hopefully some baby Grey Heron's on the nest camera. The first egg is due to hatch on Weds or Thurs of this week so our fingers are firmly crossed. We are also still awaiting out first hirundine of the spring so maybe that will be this week too.

Warnham LNR

Finally the water level has started to drop on the Reserve and the muddy margins we created in the autumn are starting to appear and look suitable for wading birds. Whilst sitting in the Tern Hide this afternoon I noticed a wader drop in to the Swan Island Reedbed. It immediately vanished though my first thoughts were Green Sandpiper but I thought it was strange I couldn't see the bird on the island. Soon enough I realised that the wader was in fact a Common Snipe which had looked pale due to the sunlight. It stayed all afternoon and allowed a few visitors to catch up with this scarce species for the Reserve. 

Herring Gull - Overgrown bill

Elsewhere on the Reserve we also had a visit from a rather unusual looking gull. The first-winter Herring Gull above has for some reason developed an overgrown upper mandible. It didn't seem to be affecting the bird in any way however and probably serves it quite well in being able to open tin cans at the tip!

In Millpond Plantation on Tuesday we had Horsham GreenGym pay us another visit to help with the woodland thinning just off the first boardwalk. Fuelled by tea, coffee and biscuits we managed to get plenty done dramatically opening up the woodland floor. Most of the bigger timber was left on site to be extracted at a later date and the brash was burnt on a very impressive fire.