Knepp (24 May 2023)
12 of us spent a pleasant day in the sunshine at the Knepp Estate near Horsham. It is a pioneering rewilding project that’s turned failing farm land into a profitable site of wildlife abundance. Unfortunately, the car park is now even further away than last year but by late summer it will have a café, shop and toilets next to it.
Our target birds were White Stork, Turtle Dove, Nightingale, Cuckoo and Yellowhammer. White Storks were seen throughout the walk soaring on thermals, with chicks on their high stick nests or standing around on nests looking as if they were waiting for something to happen. We were told that there are about 19 nests so far this season. What fantastic progress this re-introduction project has made since the first chicks hatched here in May 2020. People already take them for granted. The pair in the farmyard had 3 well developed chicks and were easy to see and photograph. Turtle Doves purring could be heard not far past the campsite. We reckoned there were 5 birds with 2 seen flying away; not enough for some who wanted views of a stationary bird on a branch! Another bird was heard near the field where 2 stork nests are again in a double decker arrangement in a huge oak tree in the middle of a field. We stopped here for lunch watching both pairs bill clacking when a bit of pair bonding was needed. One pair spent a while moving a curved twig about but clearly couldn’t agree on the perfect place for it! The other pair kept poking at something in the bottom of their nest but we couldn’t tell if that was eggs or small chicks. Many admired the nearby herd of Longhorn cattle with their calves.
Nightingale song accompanied us throughout the walk and we gave up keeping count. A Yellowhammer was heard clearly in the usual place with scrub in an open field but even though we followed the sound to a small group of bushes the bird refused to show itself. A Lesser Whitethroat was much more obliging, and, contrary to their usual behaviour of diving into thick foliage, it was sitting out on a dead tree. Another was more conventional and called loudly from a bush next to the dam by the Hammer Pond. Common Whitethroat were easier to see and hear on the tops of bushes doing little song flights from these perches. A Buzzard on a dead tree caused confusion because its silhouette looked surprisingly small until telescopes were trained on it. Cuckoos were heard but not seen however Lesser Whitethroat, Whitethroat, Nightingale, Turtle Dove, Cuckoo and Yellowhammer all singing together or near each other was pretty special. That’s what a healthy farmland ecosystem should sound like!
Bird sightings tailed off after lunch but 3 Tamworth piglets and 2 sows kept us entertained as we followed the white route. As Jerry said “The cutest Tamworth piglets you’ve ever seen!” Rhona couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about but the rest of us lingered there getting good views from a tree platform. I was impressed by the way that the adult pigs tossed large branches aside with their snouts as they rootled through mud and leaves in a ditch. We took a diversion to the Hammer Pond before returning to the farm but it was rather quiet apart from the aforementioned Lesser Whitethroat. Whilst sitting in the sun on the grassy bank we only saw one family of 5 young coots in their lily pad nest, 1 great crested Grebe on a nest, a family of Mallards and a couple of Swallows flying around the neighbouring farm buildings. A group of White Stork coming in to land with the legs out like landing gear and their wings bent was a curious sight. 3 male Beautiful Demoiselles seen contesting a small pool of water near the farm were an added bonus.
The kiosk by the farm has gone so we had to make do with ice-cream tubs from the shop! The new kiosk in the car park provided welcome refreshment once we’d trudged all the way back up there. That said it was a very enjoyable day with great wildlife and good company. Only 39 species but good ones!
by Rebecca Dunne