Friday 23rd April: Pagham Harbour

 Social media reports led us to a different part of Pagham today which we had never visited before. Parking in Newtimber we took the footpath to Horner reservoir, where a Ring-Necked Duck was present alongside some Tufties and a few Coot and Mallard.

Ring-necked Duck

These are essentially North American diving ducks, not generally native to the UK, but in recent years a few have been present around the country. We have previously seen one at Dungeness and in Devon on the coast path, but this was our first Sussex sighting. 

It was another lovely, sunny day and from here we followed a picturesque rife towards North Wall, renowned for its bitter wind! Warblers were in full voice and we observed a Whitethroat pirouetting from the top of a shrub and eventually managed to pinpoint a Sedge Warbler singing from halfway up a precariously thin reed as it swayed in the breeze. An explosive sound from deep in the hedgerow had me pondering, but eventually I was able to identify this as a Greenfinch, more familiar for its wheezing call from the top of a tree.

We eventually arrived at North wall, taking a circuitous route to avoid the waterlogged fields, where several more Sedge Warblers were present, intermittently launching into the air for a few moments before descending back down into the reeds once more. A single Reed Bunting was perched atop a shrub, and a chestnut throated Little Grebe, together with several Shoveler and Gadwall loitered on Breach Pool. Little Egret were noted nesting in the trees, but we could not locate any Cattle Egrets amongst them on this occasion.

On another tip off, from a fellow birder we chatted with at North wall, we drove to Chichester marina, where a female Pied Flycatcher had been reported by the car park. Initially we were unable to locate the bird, but we decided this was a good time and place to pause for lunch, and we were then rewarded with several good sightings before it disappeared.

Next we drove round to Church Norton, overlooking the harbour. The tide was coming in, so conditions were not ideal for waders but Bar-tailed Godwits, Ringed Plover, Oystercatcher and a single Sanderling were feeding on the diminishing mud. There were plenty of screeching Sandwich Terns, and a few Common Tern, looking very small in comparison, but sadly we were unable to find any of our target species, Little Terns. By now I had become very cold, facing into a north easterly wind, so we called it a day, and headed for home and a nice cup of tea!