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Bramber across the River Adur |
Bramber Brooks
On Friday night there was about 8 cm of snow and our first bout of real winter weather so far. In the early afternoon we set off to walk up the riverbank to see what this change in the weather might have brought in. The first thing we saw was a solitary Snipe land in the Bramber Castle meadows. I scanned the fields to see if there were any more, but it did seem to be on its own. Overhead there were small flocks of Lapwing on the move and a Heron flew over. Then about 8 Teal flew upriver and when we got to the riverbank we spotted a pair of ducks which were hard to identify in the poor light, but turned out to be Gadwall. As we struggled through the mud and slush up the riverbank they took off and retreated further upstream. In the distance we could hear the sound of shooting and realised that there was a wildfowling party ahead and we became concerned that we were driving these ducks towards the guns so we turned round and headed for home.
Today we set off in light snow in the morning to cross the river and walk around the eastern meadows, meeting up with some old friends with the same idea. We put up a Snipe in Bramber Castle brook and watched it zig-zag away. Perhaps it was the same one we saw yesterday. There were no ducks, but half a dozen Greylag geese were feeding in the fields in an area I had not seen them in before.
Meadow pipits are a common bird here, but they are usually hidden in the long grass and you do not normally see them until they fly off. Today, a flock of eight were clearly visible against the snow.
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