Group Visit to Pagham Harbour

A small group of members made their Spring visit to the North Wall at Pagham Harbour, ably led by our local birdwatching expert Clive Hope. It was a windy and pretty chilly day, but this didn’t seem to put off the birds. Luckily we managed to avoid the threatened showers, but the wet winter meant that the nearby fields were generally flooded. This though did seem to attract many birds in good numbers, with an excellent total of 37 different species seen.

The highlights of the day were a large group of up to 16 Cattle Egrets which were showing well, alongside a healthy population of Grey Herons who were probably breeding in the nearby trees. It would be great if the Egrets follow suit and start breeding there. There were also in the region of 400 or so Black-Tailed Godwits – an impressive sight whenever they took to the air, something in the region of 40-50 Curlew with their haunting winter calls, and scores of Dark-Bellied Brent Geese flying overhead to the nearby fields when the tide was rising in the harbour.

All in all, it was a most enjoyable birdwatching visit to a wonderful location which is only about half an hour away from us, and was capped off with a visit to the nearby cafe in Pagham village for lunch before returning home.