Dad and I have been planning to go to Pulborough Brookes for ages, so with a Monday finally free for the both of us, we decided to head over even though the weather looked a bit dodgy. Our aim was just to enjoy what was there, and we were hoping we might see some good birds as well. And, well, Pulborough delivered.
We arrived at 9:00, with no rain forecast for another half hour or so. We walked through the gate and headed towards the West Mead hide.
Once there, I got everything out of the bag just as the slight feeling of rain in the air manifested itself in a few drops hitting the water. Not that there was much of it.
After 15 minutes or so of scanning, with only some Mallards and a Mute Swan visible, I found some Lapwing on the other shore of the "lake."
Normally, I spend much longer in this hide, but Dad and I decided it would be best to walk over to the Winpenny Hide as there seemed to be more action over there- and the rain that was about to hit looked as though it would be heavy and last for around 2 hours. So we didn't want to be stuck in a hide with nothing to look at.
A Red Kite was hunting in one of the fields, and a Dunnock singing was one of the few birds that actually showed itself.
A Jay flew past, and a Common Whitethroat flew up onto the fence.
Immediately, there was much more to see here. Three Avocets were around, very large numbers of Canada Geese (mostly juvenile), Lapwings, Gadwalls, a Little Egret, two Mute Swans and a few Redshank.
As I started scanning the distance through my scope, a very large bird appeared in frame. After two seconds of computing the image I was receiving, I quickly said to Dad, "Dad, there's an eagle."
I watched this massive adult White-tailed Eagle through the scope for 15 seconds before getting Dad on it. It soon landed on a usual fence post in the distance. I've seen these birds quite a few times, and very close, but Dad had never seen one properly before, so I was very chuffed for him to be able to see the bird.
No matter how many times you see these birds, it is always just so incredible.
All of a sudden, the rain rolled in, quickly blanketing the landscape.
But this didn't stop all the birds from coming out, as a Sedge Warbler came and showed extremely
well in front of the hide.
Some Mallard and Gadwall ducklings made a dash for any sort of cover, all while the eagle in the background just stood there, seemingly unfazed by the downpour.
A Tufted Duck appeared, and a few Skylarks were singing.
After a long 45 minutes, the rain finally cleared, with the eagle still on its post in the background. Some birds started moving around, including a Sedge Warbler, a few Goldfinches, and some Blue Tits on the wires directly in front of the hide.
Sadly, the hills in the distance disappeared as another huge band of rain came in. By this point, there were about 5 other people in the hide. Within seconds of the rain hitting, all of the windows were closed as torrential rain came in. It was like rain I'd never seen before...
An hour later, with a very brief few minutes where the skies weren't offloading in between, the sky cleared, with the hills in the background visible again, the windows of the hide opened up, and a much clearer look again at the landscape- the eagle still hadn't budged....
By now, the eagle had been sitting in that spot for two and a half hours, with no sign of budging. We had been hoping it might fly off, but with that not seeming likely any time soon, Dad and I took a break in the weather to head over to the north brooks.
We decided we would have a look in Nettley's hide for a while before heading back home, not wanting to be back too deep in the afternoon.
As soon as we were in the hide, Dad noticed a deer on one of the banks, and as I was photographing a flying Avocet, I briefly caught it in frame... although I didn't notice until about 5 seconds ago when editing this image!
A Lesser Black-backed Gull had caught something as it flew about, and a Grey Heron was also around.
Sadly, with time pressing, we had to leave, heading back along the woodland trail towards the visitor centre.
But not without event.
Hardly 50 meters up the path from Nettley's Hide, a series of noises could be heard from the bushes. It was a call, I sort of recognised. And all of a sudden, a sort of nondescript brown bird landed in a tree a few meters in front of us. I knew what it was immediately, but wasn't entirely certain just because of how unusual this was- a Nightingale singing out in the open, completely unfazed by us. Wowww!
I have photographed Nightingale before- but that was a thousand miles away on the southern coast of Spain. Never before in Britain. My first ever Nightingale had actually been at Pulborough Brooks last year, but that was only a very brief glimpse through seemingly thousands of twigs and tree branches.
This was something else. It just sat there singing. A few meters away. The lighting was absolutely horrific, to be fair, but that was no problem to the naked eye- this bird was absolutely stunning.
I managed a very brief video as well-
Soon, it flew off past the path into the thick bushes, having just been sat on the fencepost, hardly a stone's throw away. And then came the realisation that this was not the only one... another flew past, and one more was further down the slope from us, also singing. Truly remarkable- three Nightingales all in the same place, all showing with no effort needed to find them. What a memory.
With this, Dad and I walked back to the visitor centre, feeling absolutely thrilled- and still a bit shocked- with the previous 10 minutes.
We took, as we always do at Pulborough, one last look over the incredible view, before heading to the car, and travelling home.
Well, what an incredible trip. A memory to last a lifetime. We had thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and even now, writing this a full day later, the excitement and adrenaline of those Nightingales are still very real to me. It really is an incredible thing, birdwatching. Unlike anything else. Absolutely love it.
Good night, and thanks for reading:)
