Saturday 14th February 2026: Pagham Harbour

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 We spent an enjoyable afternoon at Pagham Harbour with our daughters, hoping to find them some interesting waders. Starting at Ferry Pool, there appeared to be little of note, with regular species of wildfowl and plenty of Lapwings roosting on the banks. However, the girls enjoyed looking through the scopes and noticing the incredibly detailed plumage patterns on the male Teal, the stunning colours of the Shoveler, and the bold yellow stripe on the face of the Wigeon. It was a reminder to us of just how beautiful these ducks actually are. Suddenly many of the waders took off. We scanned without success for a raptor, but did note a group of smaller waders flying amongst them. As they resettled we scanned with our scopes and managed to pick out around ten Golden Plover mingled amongst the Lapwing. An excellent result. A quick scan of the creek added Redshank, and at the feeders a Great Spotted Woodpecker joined the regular tit species coming and going for food.

After lunch at a nearby cafe, we moved on to Church Norton. The tide was not great, with many birds quite distant, but with the scopes we added Grey Plover, Dunlin, Curlew and Oystercatcher to our list. A very distant Red-breasted Merganser was seen by some, working its way along a channel, but I failed to see this. A couple of Little Egrets were in the same area, but too far away to see well.

Next we relocated to North Wall, where there were good numbers of birds hugging the edges of the creek. A large group of Black-tailed Godwits were sat here, and amongst them we picked out a single Ruff, running around a small channel, considerably smaller, and showing a more spangly back and shortish orange legs.There were plenty of Redshank here, but Kayte was delighted when, on the opposite side of the channel, she picked out a leggier bird, with a longer bill - the hoped for Spotted Redshank. Through the scopes the pale supercilium and distinctive bill colouring were very obvious. 

Amongst the ducks, we picked out a distant Pintail, then a couple of Brent Geese. Behind us, with the light dropping, we observed a number of creamy headed Marsh Harriers drop into the reed bed to roost, together with a single ghostly grey male. Over at Owl Copse, several groups of Egrets flew in to roost, Tim finding a Cattle Egret amongst them in his scope, which unfortunately moved before anyone else could view it.

By now we were all feeling the cold, so decided to head for home, with a reasonable tally for the day of 38 species seen. It was lovely to spend time birding together as a family, and we enjoyed seeing their enthusiasm and excitement at some of the birds found.

Spotted Redshank (Nicola, mobile scoped)


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