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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, August 31, 2024

August photos.

 Although still busy I have managed to get out on a few occasions to make sure the camera is still working. There have been a few special moments

The 'all to common' garden predator feasting on a young Wood Pigeon she had taken from the feeding station.







An unusual visitor to the Breech Pool!

A much more interesting unusual visitor has been showing very well from time to time.

The Great White Egret....what a bird!


Whilst this Little Egret is always present in good numbers,

Eclipse plumage....?   

A splendid Whimbrel in Whites Creek

...and on Pagham Spit several Wheatears making a stopover before flying South



On one evening hundreds of Hirundines alighting on the temporary fencing on Norton Spit,,,just a few here

One of the Sand Martins catching flies over the harbour 

The Lagoon has been very successful this year for breeding Great Crested Grebes 





....and a few of the regulars.








So that's August...and now for the Autmn migrants!!


Monday, August 12, 2024

A life tick for me!

 A bird believed to be a Little Stint on August 3 subsequently turned out to be a Semipalmated Sandpiper. It was initially viewed in the harbour from the benches in Church Norton. As days passed it was showing more regularly on the ferry pool but unfortunately I was unable to get across at that time. However a report came in on Sunday evening at 8.00pm that it was on the Ferry Pool . So at 6.15am today I hastened over to Siddlesham  and found a group of birders watching it at a considerable distance. Even with an 800mm lens this was the view!


However at about 10 to 7 it flew a bit closer to the shallow water on the right hand side, accompanied by a Dunlin.









Unfortunately it didn't stay long and soon took flight towards the harbour accompanied by a Dunlin which it  seem to have befriended.

There was a splendid Spotted Redshank near the left hand bank and a Buzzard watched from a distant fence post. 




Not a bad start to the day!