Warnham Local Nature Reserve

Greylag Goose - D. Verrall

A murky day greeted us on the Reserve this morning however it was to be an excellent day for sightings. First of all there was a decent increase in Tufted Duck numbers which was pretty unexpected. Several Redwing were bombing around Mill Meadow eating the bevvy of worms on the damp grass and a flyover Great White Egret at c11.45am was the undoubted highlight but sadly it did not make landfall onto the Reserve turf. The final highlight of the day was a total of 10 Common Snipe feeding on the northern edge of the Swan Island which is best viewed from the Aston Trelford Hide.

Below is a list of the species noted today on the Reserve:

GREAT WHITE EGRET 1, COMMON SNIPE 10, Little Grebe 1, Cormorant 5, Little Egret 2, Grey Heron 1, Greylag Goose 30+, Mallard 40+, Shoveler 1, Tufted Duck 29, Sparrowhawk 1, Pheasant 2, Moorhen 2, Coot 6, Black-headed Gull 100+, Herring Gull 10+, Woodpigeon 150+, Green Woodpecker 1, Great Spotted Woodpecker 1, Wren 3, Dunnock 2, Robin 4, Blackbird 7, Song Thrush 2, Redwing 6, Coal Tit 5, Great Tit 20+, Blue Tit 20+, Nuthatch 3, Magpie 15, Jackdaw 20+, Carrion Crow 2, Goldfinch 10+, Lesser Redpoll 1

Warnham Local Nature Reserve

Beautiful Day at Warnham Local Nature Reserve

A busy day on the Reserve with plenty of people visiting and lots of bits and pieces to keep everybody entertained. The best sighting of the day was out first butterfly of the year when I stumbled across a Red Admiral basking in Walnut Tree Plantation.

Also of note it appears that the Siskin have finalyl found the feeders and a small group is now mixing in with the Goldfinch flock so keep your eyes peeled as hopefully numbers will stat to build until the end of Feb. David Verrall was again on hand to get a nice picture of this female from the Woodpecker Hide.

Siskin - D. Verrall

A summary of species seen today can be seen below:

Little Grebe 4, Cormorant 3, Little Egret 1, Grey Heron 1, Greylag Goose 30+, Teal 3, Mallard 39, Tufted Duck 19, Common Buzzard 1, Sparrowhawk 1, Pheasant 1, Moorhen 2, Coot 4, Black-headed Gull 100+, Herring Gull 30+, Stock Dove 1, Woodpigeon 40+, Green Woodpecker 1, Great Spotted Woodpecker 1, Wren 3, Dunnock 2, Robin 9, Blackbird 5, Song Thrush 3, Redwing 1, Mistle Thrush 1, Goldcrest 1, Long-tailed Tit 1, Coal Tit 7, Blue Tit 20+, Great Tit 20+, Nuthatch 4, Jay 2, Magpie 6, Jackdaw 60+, Carrion Crow 4, Chaffinch 9, Goldfinch 5, Siskin 2

Roe Deer 1, Grey Squirrel 7, Rabbit 1

Red Admiral 1

Chesworth Farm

Platt Pond Reflections - R. Allison

Horsham Green Gym were down on the Farm this morning and the two main jobs were some Bramble clearance in Parlour Mead Field as well as some reedbed management. If you visit the Farm you will notice that a section of the reedbed at Platt Pond has been cut down to water level and some of the reeds roots removed to help create a new reedbed at Warnham Local Nature Reserve.

The reeds are cut in the winter for a number of reasons, the main reason is to stop the reed totally covering the open water area which would happen if left to its own devices. The second reason is that having a mixture of different aged reeds within the pond gives the best diversity for the reedbed itself.  It is also very important to remove the cut reeds as this stimulates growth in the cut reed as well as stopping the pond silting up as the cut reed begins to rot.

Before

During

After

As you can see from the photos above the volunteers were very busy and managed to get all the reed cut that we wanted. Straight away you can see the benefit of this job as it has created a muddy edge to the pond which is perfect for birds such as Moorhen and Water Rail to feed around during the winter months.

Lastly we have now moved the cattle into Parlour Mead Field so please be aware they are now on the Riverside Walk and remember to close the gates if you are using the path through the field. On the wildlife front the following species were noted:

Meadow Pipit 9, Redwing 12, House Sparrow 8, Herring Gull 1, Cormorant 2, Moorhen 1, Grey Heron 1, Goldfinch 20+, Jackdaw 2, Carrion Crow 2, Woodpigeon 8, Blue Tit 3, Chaffinch 3

Warnham Local Nature Reserve

Warnham Local Nature Reserve

A very cold night with temperatures reaching -5°C meant that three-quarters of the millpond had frozen solid. This meant only one thing...gulls! With last nights influx it was no surprise when I was greeted by over a thousand mixed gulls on my arrival into work. I wandered down to Aston Trelford Hide as this is the best hide to view the gulls from and started to scan through the ever-growing flock. After about an hour I was getting a bit cold and thinking about a cup of tea when I caught a glimpse of a white-winged gull in the flock. Eventually it came into full view and wow!!! It was the Reserve's second record of an ICELAND GULL...after a few quick phone calls to anyone I thought might be interested I set about getting a few photos just in case it decided to depart.

Iceland Gull - 1st Winter

Iceland Gulls breed in the Arctic and then generally move south for the winter but are not usually found this far south. In Sussex we normally have three or four records a year so this was a very welcome sighting. The only other record on the Reserve was in 2008 by previous warden Sam Bayley who had a brief sighting of one on the millpond.
The bird today was much more well behaved and stayed on the ice until about 12.45pm when it flew off towards the tip and sadly had not returned by the end of the day. I would imagine that this bird had been feeding on the tip early morning and then came to the millpond with the rest of the gulls for a brush up on the ice.

The most obvious identifying feature of this bird was it's wonderful white-wings rather than the dark wings of a Herring or Lesser Black-backed. The bird also has a short-stubby beak and very rounded head shape which gives the impression of looking a little dove-like. The bird was slightly smaller than a Herring Gull which rules out the other white-winged gull we see in Britain which is called a Glaucous Gull. 

Iceland Gull - 2nd Record for Warnham LNR

The bird above can be aged as a first-winter.  This means it was definitely born this year, the mottled cream colouration of the bird, the dark eye, pink bill-base and mottled head are all indicators of the birds age. When the wings are closed at rest you can hardly see the extent of the white in the wing but when it flight it is at its most obvious.

Continuing the gull theme there were also several other species of laridae present. These included Common Gull, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull and the biggest of them all, the Great Black-backed Gull. The latter is an uncommon visitor to us at Warnham and is only ever found during the winter months. This particular species is much more coastal in its habits and has not yet spread inland as the other species have done. Below is a picture of one of the nine Great Black-backed Gulls seen on the Reserve today.

Great Black-backed Gull - Warnham LNR

Lastly on the gull front today, several of the lads who had come to see the Iceland Gull gave me a ring late morning to say they think there might have been a second Iceland Gull out on the lake. So I quickly grabbed my scope and camera and popped out to have a look at the bird. It stuck out like a sore thumb but it did not look right structurally for another Iceland Gull. It was strong-billed and the same size as the Herring Gulls but not big enough to be a Glaucous Gull. It turned out, on closer inspection to be a totally white Herring Gull which is something I have never seen before but it certainly makes you look twice!

Leucistic Herring Gull - Warnham LNR

After all the excitement of the gulls there was little time to count much else but the other highlight was six Water Rails skating around early morning, the male Bullfinch was again showing nicely from Woodpecker Hide and there were still plenty of Redwing around the site.

Redwing - Warnham LNR

Warnham Local Nature Reserve

Treecreeper - I. Nicol

A bitterly cold day at Warnham today meant that the feeding station was the place to be for bird activity if you could stick it out in the biting cold notherly wind. Ian Nicol managed to get this lovely photo of a Treecreeper which is often a very hard species to photograph unless near the nest in the breeding season so well done Ian. Not much reported in the sightings diary today but a summary below:

Treecreeper 1, Long-tailed Tit 6, Mallard 36, Little Grebe 2, Black-headed Gull 28, Herring Gull 18, Tufted Duck 9, Sparrowhawk 1, Blue Tit 20+, Great Tit 15+, Mute Swan 2, Greylag Goose 160+, Grey Heron 1, Kingfisher 1, Grey Wagtail 1

Warnham Local Nature Reserve

Warnham Local Nature Reserve - M. Symonds

A wonderful wintery day weather-wise on the Reserve today with hardly a breath of wind which made for some beautiful views over the millpond such as the view captured by Margaret Symonds from the Tern Hide.

Horsham Green Gym were busy in the Millpond Plantation thinning out the Birch regeneration and also clearing some Hazel stands to make way for a new fence line which we hope to install in the spring. It is very important we keep on top the Silver Birch which left unmanaged would take over the woodland. The aim of the thinning is to remove most of the stunted or small Birch to make way for the larger trees to continue to flourish but also to allow sunlight to reach the forest floor which essential for the species which need dappled light such as Bluebells and Primroses. Lots of the timber is left on site with a small percentage used for fire wood and crafts.

Birch Thinning - R. Allison

Not much by way of sightings reported today as we were all busy but of note the Cetti's Warbler was again seen from the Tern Hide it seems to favour the reedbed in front and often flies between that and the reedbed in front of the dam wall. Below is a summary of the rest of the species noted:

Grey Heron 1, Cormorant 3, Mallard 24, Shoveler 2, Coot 2, Moorhen 1, Black-headed Gull 100+, Wren 1, Pheasant 4, Blue Tit 10+, Great Tit 10+, Coal Tit 1, Nuthatch 1, Redwing 1, Pied Wagtail 1, Grey Wagtail 1, Greylag Goose 160+, Tufted Duck 6, Goldfinch 12, Chaffinch 10+, Cetti's Warbler 1

Grey Squirrel 4

Warnham Local Nature Reserve

Sparrowhawk - L. Lockyer

Not much coverage of the Reserve today due to lots of meetings and the volunteer group working down at the Country Park but Liza Lockyer did manage to get this excellent photo of the male Sparrowhawk which is regularly seen hunting in front of the Woodpecker Hide. Unfortunately he hardly ever perches for long enough to get a photograph, so well done Liza for putting so many hours in to finally grab a snap!

Of interest you might have noted this bird has a ring on his right leg, it was in fact trapped and ringed at Warnham on the 8th March 2017. It is great to see that it is still on the Reserve and using its old winter haunts in which to hunt from. This bird also bred on site this year and raised three young successfully however all of the young have now been chased off by the resident pair. Below is a photo of when the bird was ringed.

Other birds noted around the Reserve today can be found below:

Cormorant 2, Pochard 1, Little Grebe 5, Great Black-backed Gull 1, Grey Heron 2, Herring Gull 100+, Tufted Duck 2, Mallard 27, Long-tailed Tit 5, Goldfinch 2, Coal Tit 1, Pheasant 4, Dunnock 1, Moorhen 2, Lesser Black-backed Gull 2 (Judith Alford & Neil Henry)

Warnham Local Nature Reserve

Grey Wagtail - T. Utting

The Reflection Pool has been a hive of activity over the past few days as one of the resident Grey Wagtails has taken a liking to hunting the various flies which are busy laying eggs on the moss around the edges of the pool. These are just a few of the stunning photos from Tony Utting and Bob Howell took today from the Woodpecker Hide today. Fingers crossed this little show off will continue to feed around the pool and allow everyone to see this colourful species at point blank range. It has been showing down to 4ft!

Grey Wagtail - T. Utting

Grey Wagtail - B. Howell

Elsewhere on the Reserve the Kingfishers were buzzing around all day and the adults appear to be pushing the youngsters off their territory now which is fascinating to watch. They usually start to push their offspring away at this time of year as fishing starts to become harder with the water temperatures starting to fall. Other highlights were a flock of 14 Mandarin which circled the lake a few times before dropping down on Chennells Brook. 

Redwing and Starling continue to move over the Reserve in flocks with over 100 Redwing seen this morning heading west as well as 50+ Starling. Lesser Redpoll are starting to find the feeders from the Woodpecker Hide albeit in ones and twos at the moment but hopefully the numbers will start to build.