Yesterday morning I spent a day at Pagham Harbour Nature Reserve and Church Norton. After an hour drive we arrived to surprisingly good weather!

Firstly I checked in the Ferry Pool Hide and was quite surprised to see a group of around 100 Redshank with some Lapwing also mixed in. I also realised, as I left the hide and walked towards the harbour it was high tide, which I had never seen before at Pagham and the water was all the way up to the edge of the paths!

Pagham Habour at High Tide
Redshank and Lapwing
After a quick scan across the water with my scope there were a number of Widgeon, Teal and Coot as well as a Shelduck which flew over. I was also quite surprised to hear a loud burst of Cetti's Warbler song which came from the reeds.

We then walked back to the car and made the very short trip to Church Norton. After arriving, I spotted more Redshank as well as lots of Grey Plover. One Whimbrel was showing well as it stood in the island right in front of me. Over the far side of the harbour there were around 50 Cormorant as well as another 50 Oystercatcher which were mostly sleeping! To the left of the Cormorant sat 6 Great Black-Backed Gulls. Grey Heron and quite a few Little Egret and Curlew were also present.

Grey Plover
(Rubbish scoped pics as I didn't have my camera!)
After about half an hour scanning we walked to the beach to eat our lunch. After 5 minutes I was quite pleased, as it was a lifer, to have a Turnstone suddenly appearing in front of me, foraging in amongst the seaweed. It was joined by another 2 as I sat watching them and being frustrated that I didn't have my camera! Walking back to the car, I had another quick look to see if I could spot anything else. The lady next to me pointed out a Mediterranean Gull, which you can identify because of its white wing tips, this was quite interesting as, admittedly, I don't normally pay much attention to gulls.

Mediterranean Gull
After a great day birding, on the way home, a Red Kite soured above us as we drove past, a fantastic end to the day.

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