Trip reports

Pagham Harbour

Sunday, 7 September 2008

Our trip to Pagham Harbour was the first outing after the summer break and we were looking forward to the possibility of finding some interesting migrants. Pagham did not disappoint. The first bird of the day was a grey phalarope which was busy feeding at the water's edge of the Ferry Pool a mere 12 feet from the watching birders. This was a first for the entire group. Also at the pool we found teal, lapwing, black tailed godwit and shelduck. We continued by walking the embankment all the way to the harbour area. On route we found a greater spotted woodpecker, long tailed tit, garden warbler, willow warbler, whitethroat , moorhen, little grebe, little egret, coot and a redstart. Returning to the car park we had good look at a juvenile male black bird, with a brown head and black body resulting from the first adult plumage emerging.
We moved on to Church Norton for lunch and then scanned the waders in the channel. We found a single knot in bright red summer plumage alongside a number of grey plover still showing summer black as well. Also on the sand were a number of sandwich and common terns with dulin, turnstones and ringed plover actively feeding along side. Little egret, redshank, curlew, oyster catcher, cormorant and greater black backed gull were all easy to find. We stayed for a little longer to search for any other birds of interest. A curlew sandpiper was identified in the midst of some distant dunlin. It took several attempts for some of us to find the individual with the correct features. We were also delighted to find a whimbrel that stood next to a curlew offering an excellent opportunity to compare the bill shape and overall body size. It was also a surprise to find that the three nearest birds were all spotted redshanks. The flock of waders took fright with the arrival of a peregrine falcon that swooped low over the channel and away inland, where we spotted buzzards and a kestrel
We moved to the hide where we watched the field behind. We were rewarded for the wait. First we spotted a male black cap, followed by a female pied flycatcher and then a spotted flycatcher.
The next area we searched was the sea shore. This was quiet with just a few great crested grebes off shore.
All day we expected to see a wheatear. Several people had mentioned seeing them, but it took a return visit to the Ferry Pool before we found them in the long grass. In total we found 74 species in the day which was certainly one of the best trips this year.