Pulborough Nightingales

Today was a slot to catch up on the Nightingales we missed a couple of weeks ago. So we started with a quick visit to Waltham Brooks just in case anything exotic was in residence. It was far from quiet, many birds singing their heads off, particularly Sedge Warblers. I expected a Cuckoo, the Brooks is normally a banker for these birds, but not today.

On to Pulborough where we immediately came across Willow Warbler, Garden Warbler and, of course ,very vociferous Nightingales that were happy to perch out in the open and sing their heads off. Fattingates was particularly good. Eventually we decided to do a circuit and set off for "adder alley" where more Nightingales had been reported. Sitting on one of the benches we sighted some fresh in Swifts accompanied by several high flying House Martins.

Having visited several hides and one of the viewpoints we decided to return to Fattingates to try to get some shots of a resident Garden Warbler and of course some more records of the Nightingales. Eventually we made our way back to the Visitor Centre, where, as we were enjoying a nice cup of tea, Paul "icemelter4" ( take a look at his stunning flickr site)  kindly informed us of a White Stork flying high above the North Brooks. We considered going back to the North Brooks viewpoint to try for a record shot but the bird was reported as flying south towards Amberley. So we tried to chase it, calling in at Waltham Brooks again and then down to the viewpoint at Amberley and finally a scan of the fields from Amberley Castle - unfortunately it had vanished. Never mind, we ended the day on a life tick, what more could you ask for?

Usual suspects.....

And a few shots taken this week that didn't make a blog.  The Duke of Burgundy butterflies from Heyshott escarpment and Kithurst Meadow and the loving couple from Breech Pool.