Sussex birdwatching
Above: Shellduck by Simon Booth
Above: Avocets
Above: Godwits
Above: Wigeon
Sussex Life
IF YOU like birds and wild places, there’s nowhere better to be in Sussex than Pagham Harbour – the primary bird watching site in the county. There’s a real magic to be found in the depths of winter. Thousands of birds depend on this area to survive the cold winter months and build up energy to make the long journey north back to their breeding grounds in the spring.
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Half of the harbour’s 1,500 acres is saltmarsh and mudflats and the other takes in farmland, copses, lagoons, reedbeds and shingle beaches. This variety of habitats, combined with its geographical and coastal location, makes it an international reserve for nature conservation.
West Sussex County Council manages the reserve while the Sussex Wildlife Trust owns two small areas within it, Ferry Pool, a wet pasture and freshwater pool next to the main Selsey Road (B2145), and Mill Pond Marsh, a small reedbed area and marsh, where you’ll find hundreds of southern marsh orchids in the summer.
There’s a hide overlooking Ferry Pool that’s worth a visit at any time of the year. During winter, good numbers of waders and wildfowl feed and roost on the pool when the tide is high in the harbour. Shelduck, teal and wigeon are the common duck species while lapwing and redshank are the predominant waders you’re likely to see.
A good look in the longer grass might reveal a snipe probing for worms with its long beak while, with a bit of luck, you might come across the strikingly marked avocet – regular visitors at this time of year.
Noisy neighbours
A network of paths and trails take you around the harbour and one of the best places to be as the tide ebbs and flows is Church Norton.
As the mudflats are exposed they attract flocks of birds and eventually you may be entertained by thousands of them feeding close to you. There’s also well over a dozen species of waders to be seen. The curlew with its long curved bill, is often the largest bird feeding out on the mud and is easily distinguished from the straight billed godwit, a slightly smaller, slender bird and much less vocal. If you are really lucky, you might see a grey seal basking on one of the shingle banks exposed by the receding tide.
The real spectacle though is often seen as dusk falls over the harbour. Thousands of Brent geese, finding temporary homes in the warmth of a UK winter having bred in the Arctic, leave the surrounding fields where they have been feeding during the day to roost noisily in the relative safety of the saltmarsh. It sounds and looks thrilling, a real wilderness experience in the overcrowded south east.
An Information Centre for the Reserve is at Sidlesham on the B2145 Chichester to Selsey Road.
Click HERE to read the full article in the Sussex Life digital archives
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