The main attraction of a visit to the RSPB reserve at Pulborough Brooks at this time of year is usually to see the flocks of wildfowl, but the outstanding feature today was a very good view of five bullfinches feeding on the buds of hawthorn and blackthorn. There were three males with their stunning pink breasts and black and white head markings and two somewhat less glamorous females. The usual view of a bullfinch is a white rump disappearing over a hedge or skulking in the top of a tree, so this was a rare treat. Another bird that gave a long, uninterrupted audience at close range was a goldcrest, almost within the close-focus distance of my binoculars, moving around in the hedge and also posing between the spars of a five-bar gate. There is a great deal of water at Pulborough at present as there is everywhere in the English countryside at the moment and the extent and depth of it does not seem to appeal to some of the species such as Teal and Wigeon that are usually present here in very large numbers at this time of year. There were Teal and Wigeon flocks as you can see from the photo, but not on the usual scale. Pintail seemed to be one of the most numerous species and one flock held a prolonged flying display, back and forth low over the water. Pintail are easily identified when sitting on the water or standing on the bank (the clue is in the name), but I was not sure what they were when I first saw them in flight. You see ducks far more frequently on the ground or on the water than in the air and so identification practice is lacking. Not only that, but it was hard to reconcile these slim, elegant, perfectly engineered flying machines slicing through the air at high speed with the frankly rather dumpy birds that were are used to seeing on the water.
It was bright, sunny afternoon and it was no surprise to hear Robins and Songthrushes singing, but it was a surprise to hear a woodpecker drumming.
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