Pagham Harbour 11^th October 2003

 “Dress warmly”, our Group Leader advised at the previous evening meeting, “it is exposed at Pagham and can be very cold”. And so some 25 of us arrived at Hemel bus station with fleeces, sweaters and coats for our early start by coach to Pagham. We arrived at about 9.30am stopping briefly at the Visitors’ Centre, still closed, before the coach dropped us at the end of the lane leading to Church Norton.

As we got off the coach we saw some dozen or so Red-Legged Partridge in the adjacent field and a solitary Curlew just a bit further along. At the end of the lane, we entered the churchyard of the Chapel of St. Wilfrid to be greeted by two young weasels playing among the gravestones. Over the churchyard wall, we joined the sea wall footpath and came to where we got our first sight of the harbour. There were birds everywhere; Grey Plover, Dunlin, Little Egrets, Cormorants, Wigeon, Turnstone Redshank and more. While we were taking all these in, a Goldcrest came close for a look at us soon followed by a skulking Dartford Warbler.

From there we walked along the tideline in the general direction of the sea in the warming sunshine discarding warm clothes as we went. In an adjacent field we watched a Kestrel looking out for its lunch, Stonechats posing on the tops of bushes and Meadow Pipits feeding in the foreground. We also spotted a Water Rail in a nearby creek and a couple of Kingfishers were seen there too. All the while the tide was coming in and driving the birds in the harbour onto higher ground.

Lunch was taken by some of us sitting on the shingle overlooking the sea. By now it was very warm, we were in our shirt sleeves and breaking out the sun cream. As we ate lunch we watched some 25 or so Great Crested Grebes on the sea and a continual flypast of Turnstones exiting the harbour entrance. Lunch over (for some), we walked steadily back to the edge of the churchyard. Some took the coach back to the Visitors Centre and the remainder decided that the walk along the edge of the harbour suited us better even if getting back along the edge of the churchyard involved paddling along the high tide line.

The Dartford Warbler greeted us again where we had seen it before and as we walked along the harbour edge, large numbers of Wigeon intermixed with Pintail wheeled over the harbour and waders roosted on higher ground waiting for the tide to recede. It was beautiful sight.

All too soon the clock approached our departure time of 4.00pm before which a welcome cup of tea beckoned at the Visitors’ Centre.

Altogether we recorded some 70 species (see the list below) on one of the warmest, sunniest days of the autumn and one of the most enjoyable group trips ever.

Dave Jones & Stuart Harrison

Follow this link to the Sussex Wildlife Trust Pagham Harbour web page