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Sunday 1 May 2016

Pagham and Medmerry

This weekend saw us at the RSPB Pagham harbour and Medmerry reserves.

On leaving the car park at Pagham a quick check on the well positioned nest box we found a Tawny owl peering out a good start to the day.

On our walk down towards the harbour hide we found several warblers with Sedge, Reed, Willow, Cetti's, Chiffchaff along with Blackcap and Linnet all calling from the bushes some giving good views. Further along both Common and Lesser Whitethroats were seen.

Several Reed bunting were sat at the tops of the smaller trees both male and female could be seen. Just before we moved on a Cuckoo called from over the estuary and a quick scan found it sitting at the  top of a dead tree.

Out on the water both Little and Great crested Grebes were seen along with Coot , Moorhen, Mallard and Gadwall.

Out in the fields Lapwing, Pheasant and Red legged Partridge are feeding along with Woodpigeon and a couple of Stock Doves.

Further along a more tree lined area Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Blue tit and Great tit were found along with a singing Song Thrush.

Moving down to the hide we stopped for a rest and a coffee and spent a little time looking out over the estuary more species were found which included 20 whimbrel, a group of 30 Dunlin also Greenshank, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Oystercather, Shelduck, Cormorant, Curlew and Mute Swan.

On the way back to the car park other birds of note seen included Buzzard, Red Kite, Swift, Swallow, Wren, Robin, Dunnock, Skylark, Blackbird and a couple of Little Egrets.

A quick scan out into one of the channels found us a splendid summer plumage Spotted Redshank a nice bonus to end the morning.

After lunch we headed off to the RSPB Medmerry reserve.

This is a relatively new site which is a very large area so we decided to head towards the sea wall with  its shallow pools to see what we could find.

Out in the fields the tractors were busy cultivating the land which resulted in a large group of gulls following looking for food on closer inspection both Black headed and Lesser black backed Gulls were found along with a group of around 30 Mediterranean Gulls always a joy to see this lovely gull at such close range which makes them easy to pick out from the other gulls as their wings look transparent in the sunshine.

Moving on down to the pools both Syklarks and Yellowhammer were seen along with several Meadow Pipits and a Fox hunted in the meadow.

Scanning out over the pools several Avocets were sat on their nest's on the main island with Little ringed Plovers running around in front of them.

About 10 Little Terns could be seen flying in and out from their fishing trips out over the sea, these birds also nest out on the island, checking the water out in front of us a small gull was sat on the water this turned out to be an Adult Little Gull in summer plumage another good find.

Other birds seen here include Starling, Pied Wagtail, Herring and Great black backed Gulls.

With the weather starting to close in we headed off back to the car after a very rewarding day with a species list of over 70 birds. DT.


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