Friday 30th April: Pagham outing

On Friday we led a select group of members from our local birdwatching group  around Pagham Harbour.  

We  met at the Visitor Centre where we spent a few minutes observing the nearby feeders and bushes, collecting a few easy ticks of common passerines for the day list.  Taking a path towards the old tramway, we tuned our ears in to listen for warblers.  In the scrub a distinctive scratchy scratchy song alerted us to the presence of Whitethroats and the melodic song of a Blackcap also drew our attention. A noisy Chiffchaff chanted its name repeatedly, but we failed to locate it. 

Common Whitethroat by Cyndy Downie

In the pond area, a pair of Gadwall were swimming lazily and a Cetti’s warbler blasted out its song, but otherwise it was fairly quiet. We continued along the tramway towards Ferry Pool noting several migrating Whimbrel, with their striped heads and shorter bills distinguishing them from the similar Curlew, most of which have already departed for their moorland breeding sites. Also seen were Oystercatcher, a lovely pair of Avocets, Black-tailed Godwits dabbling in the mud and an elegant Spotted Redshank,  largely silhouetted against the light, but showing mottled dark underparts as it moults into summer plumage, long legs and a longer bill than the common Redshank.

Looking across to Ferry Pool it was fairly quiet, but around the margins a Lapwing and Little Ringed Plover, its yellow eye ring showing well in the morning light, were present alongside some Shelduck and a few more Avocet.  We wandered slowly on, a short distance along the path, listening carefully and finding both Reed Warbler and Reed Bunting around the swaying reed beds and a Red-legged Partridge exploring the hedgerow at the edge of a field.

We had originally intended to follow this path to the wider harbour at Church Norton, but in response to some messages on social media, we decided first to investigate North Wall, where some good birds had just been reported. We drove to Halseys Farm track and walked across the fields to North Wall, where we were pleased to obtain some distant but nevertheless good views of male Garganey, alongside a smattering of other common ducks. A distant wader was originally believed to be the Wood Sandpiper that had been reported, but this was then flushed by walkers. We tracked the bird as it flew behind the hedge to the next field and disappeared from view.  We changed our position and initially thought we had found our target, but eventually it was decided this was a Greenshank with a shorter than usual bill, that is known to frequent the harbour. A Sedge Warbler, and stunning summer plumaged Grey Plover were also noted. As the weather closed in for a short shower, the air became thick with insects and a cloud of at least 20 Swifts filled the air, circling directly over our heads.

Summer plumaged Grey Plover Cyndy Downie

Next we headed to Church Norton for lunch overlooking Tern Island. On the mudbanks which were disappearing rapidly as the tide flooded in, we were pleased to find and be able to compare the different sizes and features of Sandwich, Common and Little Tern. We observed  a couple of Bar-tailed Godwits and another summer plumaged Grey Plover. as they lingered to the last moment to feed on an ever diminishing sliver of mud. Suddenly a cloud of Mediterranean Gulls and Terns filled the air as a Peregrine dashed amongst them, but flew away ‘empty taloned'.

Watch out...there's a Peregrine about! Kev Midgley

A brief look out to sea produced just a few Gannets and a distant flock of unidentified birds, possibly Brent geese. 

With a total of over 70 species seen the rest of the group decided to call it a day and depart before any build-up of bank holiday weekend traffic. However, we took advantage of a vacant parking space to call in at Ivy Lake complex on our way home. Again bad weather seemed to bring the hirundines down low over the water, and we were able to watch many Sand Martins diving and swooping low over the water while we got drenched in a hailstorm downpour! As we returned, a group of house Martins were also spotted foraging around some tall poplars and we noted the considerable breeding success of the resident geese, with Canada, Greylag and Egyptian all waddling the paths with gaggles of chicks in tow. Our final tally for the day was  a very reasonable 79 species.