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Pagham Birder: The Blog

A regular account of the birds seen mainly on and around Pagham Spit, the Lagoon and the North Wall plus other birding exploits from time to time.
Any news of interest regarding the ongoing erosion problems on Pagham Beach will, from now on, be shown on my other blog together with general beach photos.. Click on the link... Pagham Beach Blog on this page.

Saturday, January 15, 2022

January!

    A couple of visits to the North Wall this week proved slightly disappointing from the point of view of any new or unusual birds turning up. Nevertheless two brilliant cold sunny mornings in the midst of the current dreary spell of weather was sufficient to make it well worthwhile.

Masses of Lapwings and huge flocks of Brent Geese plus the Wigeon,Teal and Shelduck would be a delight for any visitor not used to the amazing sights of Pagham Harbour but when its part of your local 'patch'  maybe its a case of familiarity breeding contempt.                                                .

One of the now familiar sightings is this Marsh Harrier....one of sometimes three birds over the Breech Pool reedbeds.

On the Spit very little is occurring at present...a pair of Stonechats have taken up temporary residency but the Goosanders and female Goldeneye have moved on.




Carrion Crows always on the lookout from a suitable vantage point.

Turnstones always turning stones in a continual search for food.

A drake Red Breasted Merganser accompanied by two females is now a regular.

...and the harbour seal can very often be seen entering and departing the entrance either side of high tide but often spends time  loafing on a mud bank after gorging on mullet.  



Thirty years ago a Little Egret would have been a surprise but with an established breeding colony of Little and Cattle Egrets in owl copse they get almost overlooked.


Roll on the Spring!

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