The late birds ‘get the worm’

We’ve been to the RSPB reserve at Pulborough Brooks once before. This time we had a room booked in a tavern in nearby Bramber so we could take our time and stay until the dusk closing time.

We saw goldcrest, nuthatch, blue tit, great tit, robins, chaffinch, a green woodpecker pecking at the floor right in front of one of the hides, teal, wigeon, shelduck, geese, handsome redwing, fallow deer and noble fallow stag, shoveller, goofy snipe, curlew, lapwings, long-tailed tits at the bus stop, ruffless ruffs, no birds of prey unfortunately, no bullfinch, no crossbill, but out of all the birds we saw, two birds stood out and both of them emerged right at the end of the day.

The sun was setting and it was becoming difficult to tell the birds from the stray leaves and cones in the trees. I heard a loud clear song different from all the robins and the incessant great tits whose songs filled the air. It was like a blackbird in its squawk-like tone but the repeated phrases were shorter: little riffs and arpeggios, liet-motifs, they were more enigmatic, less melodic than the blackbird. I found the bird in the binoculars. It was a song thrush clearly on display on an outstanding branch, showing himself for an evening performance. His colours are humble browns, plump with a creamy speckled belly. I’ve never seen one before or heard one in real life. Such a proud song, I stood and listened for a while, he was still going when we left.

We went back into the visitor’s centre which was just closing and the assistants were relieved to get their binoculars back. A few other lingering visitors were looking through the binoculars and scopes out of the big viewing window. A little chicken sized bird waddled out from the reeds and the expert said we were lucky to be seeing it. It was a water rail, almost a chicken, almost a wader, tentatively pecking on the ground, just long enough for us to get a view through one of the scopes before we were ushered out of the visitors centre so they could close up and go home. The water rail makes a noise like a pig snuffling apparently, but we didn’t get to hear it. It's blue-grey belly and orangey-red bill make a satisfying exotic combination, but it comes across as a slightly unfortunate bird what with the pig-noise it has been lumbered with, the awkward chicken legs and the inelegant name. It seems content for sure, but that arouses the sympathy all the more.