arunwild

It’s a late start on a cold, breezy day for the walk along the river from Amberley station to Arundel, and that’s evident in the limited bird song and activity. There isn’t much to note between the station and North Stoke apart from a Raven duelling with a Buzzard, while the carr woodland on the former meander of the Arun between the Gurkha Bridge and South Stoke is strangely quiet. A few Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps singing intermittently and a tame Song Thrush by the path are as good as it gets. Things pick up as South Stoke nears. A Cuckoo calls distantly from the area where a Large Tortoiseshell was seen a year ago. There have been no sightings this year, though the area, always wet, is still a quagmire after the winter’s rain. There’s hope yet. The sky is clouding ominously as I cross the bridge to South Stoke, the river dotted by occasional spots of rain. A small flock of Swallows is swirling low by the bridge, then erupt in panic as a Hobby streaks above them. It show...

The mud has gone, the weather is warm, and the warblers are arriving. By the Arun a Lesser Whitethroat and two Reed Warblers are performing, both new in since yesterday. The Millstream seethes with the sound of Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps. But loudest of all are the Cetti’s Warblers, asserting their place and scolding the new arrivals from deep cover. This is an odd candidate to be a resident bird, a swamp warbler first recorded in Britain in the 1960s that became a regular breeder over three decades later and has continued spreading since. There appear to be more here than last year, at least two additional birds beside the river over the mile or so each side of Arundel, filling the gaps in areas of suitable habitat. Such changes are a reminder that the valley is always in flux, day by day, season by season, millennia by millennia. And the changes are not limited to birds, or one-way traffic. The river was once a hive of activity, trading goods along the so...