Pagham Harbour - 25th May

A sunny and warm afternoon. Highlights were Avocet, Little Ringed Plover, Knot, Little Tern, Common Sandpiper, Sedge Warbler and Reed Warbler.

We arrived at the visitors centre to hear that a Kentish Plover, a rare visitor from France had been seen in Pagham Harbour today – would we be lucky enough to find it?
We went to the hide overlooking Sidlesham Ferry. Plenty of birds here. On the main pool were 2 Tufted Duck, Coots, Shelduck, Mallards and Mute Swan. Swifts whizzed around overhead. At the edges were several Lapwing and Oystercatcher, a Teal and a Common Sandpiper. A small closer pool had a Redshank and more Shelduck. Then we noticed 3 Avocet feeding quietly there. A smaller wader flew from over the mud and landed – it was a Little Ringed Plover. We left the hide feeling very pleased and watching a group of House Martins feeding over us.
We walked down the edge of the estuary seeing Little Egrets and Mallards with some Black-headed Gulls in the first channel. The path goes past pools surrounded by reeds. Here we saw Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler and Reed Bunting and we heard Cetti’s Warbler. There was also Grass Vetchling flowering and we saw a couple of Holly Blue butterflies.
We walked round the edge of the estuary towards Church Norton. The path goes past arable fields and gorse bushes and we saw Linnets and Whitethroats here and a Yellowshell moth. At Church Norton you can look out over most of the estuary. The Kentish Plover was seen from here earlier in the day. We scanned carefully across the mud. Several Ringed Plover, a few Grey Plover including a few in splendid summer plumage, a few Dunlin, Oystercatchers, lots of Cormorants roosting on a patch of higher ground, but no Kentish Plover. Looking carefully through the Grey Plover we noticed a slightly smaller wader – a Knot. It was still in winter plumage. As we stood and waited, hoping for the Kentish Plover to appear, we noticed several terns. A pair of Little Tern were near the roosting Cormorants and there were one or two Common Terns. In the end we had to leave and walk back without finding the Kentish Plover, but we had seen plenty of other birds.
Simon Curson