On the weekend of my 50th birthday I had the opportunity to visit two very special places. The first was the Knepp Estate which has been featured on the BBC Countryfile programme and in my favourite book of 2019 – Wilding, by Isabella Tree. The second was planned by my wife at Pulborough Brooks RSPB reserve.
At Knepp my friend and I saw 53 species of birds (that includes hearing them as well as seeing them). Birds such as cuckoo (Cuculus canorus), white stork (Ciconia ciconia), turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur), nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos), garden warbler (Sylvia borin), reed warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) to name a few. Knepp is very expansive and felt like a cross between the New Forest and parkland that you experience at places like Natonal Trust Petworth. We also enjoyed the historical features of the park including an old village in the center called Shipley, home of Hilaire Belloc (See the photos) and ancient monument.
Knepp was a first for me but Pulborough Brooks I have been to before and have enjoyed. The site has been developed since I went a few years ago. The best thing of the day was hearing a few nightingales and having a close encounter with one both seeing and hearing it. I unfortunately was so entranced and didn’t have the presence of mind to record it! I have found a recording for interested folks that is linked to here.
We had a few sightings and soundings of other birds too such as avocets (Recurvirostra avosetta), sedge warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus), cetti’s warbler (Cettia cetti) and gadwall (Anas strepera) to name a few. Butterflies were showing well too and the weather was lovely.
We also had a rare sighting of British actor James Bolam who was famous for The Likely Lads, Only When I laugh to name a couple of the programmes he was on and Grandpa in my pocket which the kids watched when they were younger. He was buying bird food in bulk from the RSPB shop.
Knepp Estate
Pulborough Brooks
