The North Wall

An obliging male Yellow Wagtail on the walk along the North Wall enabled a photograph of a bird which is usually fairly distant in a cow field...

Yellow Wagtail on the path.

It soon flew into the reeds as walkers flushed the bird.

Another highlight was a distant  Marsh Harrier disturbing the waders in the harbour...

A Black Tailed Godwit rested in the Breech Pool keeping one eye open ...

...whilst a Little Egret fed in the shallows.....

Little Egret

Pagham Harbour always has something of interest!

Another Autumnal Morning.

More Hirundines this morning...this time not only on the telephone wires but on the roofs, Tv aerials and the protective fence on the beach....hundreds of Sand Martins, House Martins and Swallows.

House Martins and Sand Martins on the aerials.

Swallows and Sand Martins on the beach fencing.

Swallow on the roof

Sand Martin and...

House Martin on Fencing.

...and then along the beach, a bush with 4 species...

 

 Linnet, Wheatear, Yellow Wagtail, Goldfinch (Greypates)

Yellow wagtail.

 In the bushes around the Lagoon several warblers amongst them this Chiffchaff

Chiffchaff.

 An interesting morning!

A Hirundine Morning

I looked out this morning and the sky was seething with House Martins, Sand Martins and Swallows. They were racing along the beach and now and again would spiral upwards and then descend on to the telephone wires pushing and shoving to find a space. Suddenly they would swarm upwards again  and then down they would come.  Amazing! A single Swift headed west along the beach...will it be my last one this year?
The photographs below really don't do justice to this amazing sight...

Harbour Road, Pagham

A few Yellow Wagtails flew along the beach, Meadow Pipits passed overhead and Wheatears were making their way along the shingle seeking out various vantage points. VizMig at its best!

One of several Wheatear on the beach.

Pulborough Brooks RSPB

A morning at Pulborough yesterday to see what was about after reports of bushes alive with migrants  a few days previously proved slightly uneventful.
However Marsh Harrier, Hobby, Sparrow Hawk and Kestrel represented the raptors and apart from Lapwings there was the fleeting glimpse of a Ruff and hundreds if not a  thousand plus Canada geese.

The highlight for me however was a male Redstart and as the sun came out briefly he showed up on a fence post near 'redstart corner'.....

Redstart...the highlight!

Wow, what a bird! Second appearance, this time with an autumn leaf complimenting his colouration.

 

The only other bird of note a single Spotted Flycatcher...alas, too far away for a photo.

A real autumn morning

Its the first day of the month and it has a truly autumnal feel to it.

 
 The Swallows and Sand Martins are gathering on the wires...a sure sign of preparation for their long journey south.

Swallows

Sand Martins looking down at me from the telephone wire.

As I watched them I suddenly heard the flight calls of Yellow Wagtails and 5 birds suddenly dropped out of the sky and started feeding on the shingle....but almost lost to sight by the long grass.

Just managed a shot of one of them as it darted to and fro in the grass. Further along the track several Wheatears were bobbing along and darting to the next fence post as I walked towards them. A Whinchat perched on the 'keep dogs on a lead notice'...a real treat and there were a couple more on the way to the hide.

Wheatears and a Whinchat.

A steady stream of Hirundines has been moving along the beach all day, mainly composed of Swallows and Sand Martins but with the occasional House Martin.
An evening walk revealed two Wheatears and my first Whinchat on the spit this autumn...

However did meet an interesting character making his way to Selsey as part of his 6000 mile walk around the Coastline in aid of the RNLI.
He can be followed on Facebook....Alexander Ellis-Rosswell.

Is this the way to Selsey?

All the best Alex!

Agressive Swans

The pair of resident Mute Swans on the Pagham Lagoon have been busy throughout the summer bringing up their seven cygnets and seeing off any visiting swans who might wander into their territory.
This morning after my regular inspection of the spit and having only seeing a single Wheatear and a juvenile Whitethroat my attention was drawn to a swan in an unusual position near the fencing running alongside the footpath leading to Church Farm. As I approached I could see that the swan was in fact  pining down another swan who had its head and neck through the fencing. The aggressor was pecking viciously  at the neck and back of the helpless 'intruder' and once I had managed to separate them the trapped swan stood up and looked around, beak open, terrified. The resident bird waited in the Lagoon ready to have another 'go'. I decided I had to rescue the poor bird so went home and collected a blanket and, to cut a long story short, eventually caught the bird and lifted it over the fence out of harms way.  There was some some blood showing around the head and on the back but I did not think  it required attention so put it on the harbour side of the fence. It looked at me as if to say 'thank you, you saved my life! '

Looking down at the family of 9 swans I then noticed the remains of another swan.....

The gruesome remains of a previous victim

SWANS CAN BE VERY VICIOUS...VISITING SWANS, PLEASE NOTE!

...but they can look very placid. The other parent (out of the picture) was hammering away at the intruder further up the bank.This is the only photo I took as it was more important that action was be taken. Catching the swan with a blanket and struggling over the fence with it would have made an interesting video. Fortunately nobody else was around!

The rescued bird back in the harbour.