Pagham Harbour Local Nature Reserve

Address: RSPB Pagham Harbour Local Nature Reserve, Selsey Rd, Chichester PO20 7NE

Grid ref: SZ856966

What3Words: mirroring.starch.commoners

Pagham Harbour is a glorious and peaceful nature reserve, one of the few undeveloped stretches of the Sussex coast. This sheltered inlet is an internationally important wetland site for wildlife. Watch black-tailed godwits and little egrets by day, then linger when skies are clear for an amazing sunset.

Plan your visit

Nature reserve: open at all times.
Car park: open at all times.
Visitor Centre: open daily, 10am-4pm.
Refreshments: open daily, 10am-4pm.
Toilets: open daily, 9am-5pm.

Festive opening times

Christmas Eve: nature reserve open at all times, toilets open, 9am-1pm, visitor centre open, 10am-1pm.
Christmas Day: nature reserve open at all times. Visitor centre and toilets closed.
Boxing Day: nature reserve open at all times. Visitor centre and toilets closed.
Monday 27-Thursday 30 December: nature reserve open at all times, toilets open, 9am-3pm, visitor centre open, 10am-3pm.
New Year’s Eve: nature reserve open at all times, toilets open 9am-3pm, visitor centre open 10am-3pm.
New Year’s Day: nature reserve open at all times, toilets open 9am-3pm, visitor centre open 10am-3pm.

Free entrance to RSPB members: Yes

Adults: Free but donations to support the work of the RSPB are welcome.

Children: Free but donations to support the work of the RSPB are welcome.

Car park cost

There are no entry fees to the nature reserve, but the following suggested donation is welcomed in the donation cairn in our car park:

£2 per vehicle

Facilities

Visitor centre
Car park
Toilets
Accessible toilets
Baby changing
Pushchair friendly
Refreshments
Picnic area
Binocular hire
Guided walks
Viewing point
Nature trails
Educational facilities

Accessibility

How to get here

By train

The nearest train station is Chichester, 5.5 miles away. There is a taxi rank outside Chichester station - ask to be taken to Pagham Harbour Visitor Centre, Selsey Road, Sidlesham.

To cycle from the station, turn south over the level crossing down Stockbridge Road for approximately 100m then turn left into Canal Basin. Immediately to the right is the canal path which is the start of Route 88, currently ending at the Visitor Centre.

By bus

The 51 Link service from Chichester Bus Station to Selsey stops outside the Visitor Centre. The bus station is 2 minutes' walk from the train station. The journey takes 20 minutes.

By bike

By bike Route 88 from Chichester Canal Basin to the Visitor Centre. Medmerry Cycle Link connects RSPB Medmerry with RSPB Pagham Harbour.

By road

From the A27 at Chichester, take the B2145 south towards Selsey. After half a mile at the first roundabout, turn right continuing on the B2145 to Selsey (do NOT take the B2166 to Pagham village - the Visitor Centre is on the opposite side of the Harbour). Remain on the B2145 for 6 miles. The turning into the Visitor Centre car park is half a mile on from Sidlesham on the left-hand side.

Sat nav POI file: If you have a satellite navigation system that can accept POI files, please see our POI page for a download link and instructions.

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Dogs are welcome on the public footpaths and bridleways around the nature reserve. Please keep to the designated rights of way only.

Please keep your dog under close, effective control at all times, due to the sensitive wildlife, habitats and livestock here. We know that the countryside is a dog walking paradise. It’s important to remember the special surroundings here are wonderful havens for rare wildlife. Even if dogs are very well behaved, wildlife and livestock can easily become startled by a loose dog they perceive as a predator.

Disturbing wildlife does more than simply causing it to move away; it uses up their energy, decreasing their chance of survival regardless of season. Thank you for protecting the special wildlife here by keeping your dog under close, effective control.

Discovery Trail through the Discovery Zone is not a public footpath, so sorry, no dogs are permitted here other than assistance dogs.
Dogs are welcome in the dog-friendly exercise area on Slipe Field and Yeoman’s Field.
A dog water bowl is available outside the visitor centre.
Dogs die in hot cars, please do not leave your dog in the car when visiting us.
There are dog waste bins on the nature reserve at our Visitor Centre and Church Norton car park.

Bringing a flock? We welcome group bookings.

Please notify us of your visit in advance. Whether it is to reserve coach or minibus parking, arrange a tailored introductory talk or organise a bespoke guided walk for your group, we can ensure that your needs are attended to.

If you are a nature tour leader, we would love to work with you to make the most of your trip for your guests.

For all group visits, please contact us on 01243 641508 so we can arrange your visit to your specific requirements.

For full details on our exciting programme of curriculum-linked, outdoor education sessions, visit our school trip information.

School visits to Pagham Harbour are curriculum-linked, hands-on and fun, with a wide range of habitats to explore all year round. We can accommodate up to three large classes of children per day.
We provide all equipment – children only need to bring suitable clothing, drinks and packed lunches.

Also, check out our fantastic range of resources for teachers, or take on the Schools’ Wild Challenge.

Downloads

Helping you find your way around. PDF, 361Kb

Pagham Harbour Local Nature Reserve map

Pagham Harbour and Medmerry area map

Contact Pagham Harbour Local Nature Reserve

RSPB Pagham Harbour Local Nature Reserve, Selsey Rd, Chichester PO20 7NE
pagham.harbour@rspb.org.uk
01243 641508
@RSPBPagham
Find us on facebook

What will you see?

Our star species

Black-tailed godwit

These elegant, long-billed waders can be seen here in autumn, spring and autumn. Look out for their striking black and white wingbars as they take flight.

Brent goose

Flocks of brent geese come to feed on the fields and saltmarsh in winter. They can be seen in good numbers here from October and linger well into the spring to make sure their Arctic breeding grounds have thawed out.

Little egret

These dainty little white herons can be seen throughout the year here. You can see them fishing, stirring up fish fry from the muddy bottom with their feet.

Little tern

These delightful chattering seabirds are the UK's smallest tern and nest colonially at Pagham Harbour. Watch them fishing in the harbour and offshore, hovering before they dive, emerging again with their catch to feed their chicks.

Pintail

Pintails flock here in autumn and winter. Look out for the elegant males and their long tails.

Nature spectacles

One of the highlights of summer is our tern colony on Tern Island. Take a seat at Church Norton and look out across the harbour to the flurry of activity over the island. The sound of chattering terns drifts across the languid waters mingled with the harsher squawks of the black-headed gulls, with which they share nesting rights on the island. Common, sandwich and little terns all nest on the island and it is a delight to watch these elegant seabirds fishing in the harbour, hovering briefly before diving into the water for small fish.

If you stand on Pagham Harbour's North Wall at dusk on a winters evening, you may be lucky enough to experience a true winter wildlife spectacle as hundreds of brent geese and wigeon pass overhead to graze in the fields north of the reserve. The sound of beating wings can be heard over their honks and whistles, as their sheer numbers add to the darkening gloom.

Being flanked to the east and west by sprawling urbanisation while jutting out into the English Channel, also makes our reserve a migration hotspot and it often turns up a rarity or two.

Waders and wildfowl linger well into spring, including curlews, grey plovers, bar-tailed and black-tailed godwits, dunlins, pintails, wigeons, teals and brent geese. Smaller migrants arrive, such as sedge, reed and willow warblers, blackcaps and chiffchaffs sing in the bushes and wheatears hop about the beach.

Little and common terns can be seen fishing in the harbour, while lapwings feed on the scrapes at Ferry and Breach Pools. Now is the best time to enjoy the reserve’s insect life, with common blue and gatekeeper butterflies, day-flying moths, such as cinnabar and six-spot burnet, feeding along the hedgerows and dragonflies patrolling the ponds.

Regular species at Church Norton are wheatears, redstarts, spotted and pied flycatchers. Wader migration is peppered with unusual birds like little stints, curlew sandpiper and ruffs, especially on Ferry Pool. It can be easy to see 60 bird species in a day. Anything can turn up – osprey, wryneck, even honey buzzard.

Large numbers of dark-bellied brent geese, lapwings and black-tailed godwits use the harbour or surrounding fields, with a supporting cast which includes grey and golden plovers, lapwings and dunlins. Slavonian grebes are seen offshore and red-breasted mergansers in the harbour.

About Pagham Harbour Local Nature Reserve

Habitat

Pagham Harbour is one of the best places in the UK for wildlife.

Vast flocks of wading birds head to here for its saltmarsh and mudflats which cover around half of the reserve.

Elsewhere you can explore lagoons, reedbeds, farmland and shingle beaches where a wide variety of wildlife make their home.

Conservation

The reserve is looked after so the different habitats are kept in the ideal condition for wildlife to thrive.

The harbour is internationally recognised as a key site for breeding shorebirds, such as little terns, ringed plovers and oystercatchers. In breeding season, we protect areas where they nest on the shore to minimise disturbance. We have also created good nesting habitat on the harbour’s islands which are further away from most disruption.

Cattle and sheep graze the grassland and the water levels are managed. This provides food at high tide for wildfowl such as wigeon, snipe and brent geese, as well as breeding sites for lapwing and redshank in spring.

Our reedbeds are cut on rotation to provide a mosaic of reeds at particular heights and ages which appeal to different birds and insects. The water levels are also managed for the benefit of species such as reed warblers and flame wainscot moths.

On our farmland we sow a wild bird seed mix which provides food and cover for turtle doves, yellowhammers and other farmland birds.

The area of scrub is home to breeding nightingales who have recently returned to the reserve.

Partners

A partnership for people and wildlife.

Pagham Harbour is a fantastic home for nature, helped by the tremendous support of many individuals, groups and organisations. In addition to RSPB members and supporters, local community members and a tireless team of volunteers, we would particularly like to thank the following organisations and individuals for their financial support:

Little Tern Recovery Project is generously supported by the EU LIFE+ Nature Programme.

Other funders we'd like to thank include:

Mrs Mary EA Watkinson
Mrs MJ Crawshaw
The Violet Flanagan Charitable Trust
The John Coates Charitable Trust
The Bassil Shippam and Alsford Trust
The Steven Bloch Image of Disability Charitable Trust
The Patricia Routledge Charitable Trust
Natural England through Defra

Site information

Pagham Harbour’s 600 hectares are home to some impressive historical heritage, including medieval forts and the old Selsey Tram embankment. Part of the site is protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument (SAM).

Its habitats and wildlife are also protected as a Site of Scientific Special Interest (SSSI), a Local Nature Reserve (LNR), a Special Protection Area (SPA), a Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) and a RAMSAR Site. To find out more about some of these designations, head here.

Latest blog posts

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Activities and events

Activities for children and families

Pagham Harbour is a great day out for all the family. Our Discovery Trail (short route) is suitable for buggies, and we have free self-guided activity sheets available every day all year round.

During the school holidays, we run special family events, from pond dipping, bug hunting and arts and crafts, to seashore safaris, mud-sifting and seasonal themed events. (Children must be accompanied by an adult.)

For more information on events and to book tickets, please visit events.rspb.org.uk/paghamharbour

Leisure activities

Walking: As well as being a haven for wildlife, Pagham Harbour is a walker’s paradise with miles of footpaths and beautiful open countryside to get away from the hustle and bustle of modern life. A walk to the beach on a clear day is rewarded with views of Beachy Head to the east and the Isle of Wight to the west, while on a blustery day it’s a great way to blow away the cobwebs and clear your mind.
Photography: For photographers and artists there are opportunities and inspiration everywhere, with big open landscapes, dramatic skies and a wealth of subjects, colours, tones and textures which change from season to season and day to day. We run wildlife photography and painting workshops throughout the year if you are keen to improve your skills.
Star-gazing: Being an undeveloped oasis in the Sussex coastline, the night sky above our reserve is great for star gazing with stunning views of the Milky Way and other constellations – look out for our popular astronomy nights.
Archaelogy and history: Pagham Harbour also boasts a rich history, from Bronze Age artefacts and evidence as a Roman seaport, to the age of steam and the Second World War. There are still a number of visible reminders to the past.

The earliest mill found at Sidlesham was dated to 1275 with the last being built in 1755. This last tidal mill was reputed to have been one of the finest in the country with three great water wheels and eight pairs of millstones. All that remains is a rectangle of grass and low brick walls to mark the site of the mill.

At Church Norton there is the surviving earthwork mound and ditch, remains of an 11th Century Norman ringwork castle, inside which the remains of stone buildings have been located. Traces of possible Iron Age occupation were found during excavations along with Neolithic scrapers and other worked flints.

Also at Church Norton is St Wilfred’s Chapel. The 13th building was formerly the chancel of the much larger St Peter’s Church. It is located on or near the site of the first Cathedral of Sussex which was established by St Wilfred when he lived there for six years from AD 681.

There are also numerous stories of smuggling and of the harbour being used as a practice firing range for aircraft during the Second World War.

The Selsey Tram which ran between Chichester and Selsey from 1897-1935 runs through the reserve and alongside the harbour's edge between Ferry Channel and Sidlesham. This is one of our main walking routes along the embankment and still goes by the name of the ‘Tramway’. Originally, steam locomotives were used and later supplemented by petrol rail-buses. In its heyday, over 22,000 passengers used it per annum. Unfortunately due to it often breaking down, the nature of rickety rails and the laid-back style of service it was teased with nicknames such as ‘The Sidlesham Snail’ and ‘The Bumpety Bump’.

Make the most of your journey

Code of Conduct for boating

This Code of Conduct is for the use of waterborne craft in Pagham Harbour.

Pagham Harbour Local Nature Reserve