Pagham Harbour Local Nature Reserve

Pagham Harbour is dominated by its marvellous expanse of saltmarsh and mudflats, providing a vital home for nature.

Mud might not sound particularly appetising to us, but our mud is crucial for the thousands of birds that are drawn in by it every year. Pagham Harbour mud is a canteen - it is packed full of cockles, shrimps, lugworms, mussels and more. Tasty morsels to feed a variety of appetites. Curlew, dunlin, black-tailed…

After a 17 year stay as warden of RSPB Pagham Harbour and Medmerry, February 2022 was a time of new beginnings. At the beginning of the month, I moved up to southwest Scotland to become the new warden for the RSPB reserve at the Crook of Baldoon. I have now been here for three months and starting to settle down. The location is amazing with the reserve lying on the western shores of Wigtown Bay, the area is well known…

Credit Aardman/Netflix).  

We’re delighted to be partnering with Netflix and Aardman on Robin Robin, a half-hour, stop-motion, festive story for the whole family, about a young robin trying to fit in. It’s debuting on Netflix on 24 November – get the date in your diary! 

To celebrate, we’re inviting you to join exclusive Robin Robin-themed adventure trails right here at Pagham Harbour this Christmas season.

If you are free on Sunday 25th, 10 am - 1 pm 

                               or

If you are free on Sunday 1^st August, 10 am - 1 pm

We need help with a litter pick!

At Medmerry there are parts of the reserve that are not accessed regularly and there has been a rubbish build up in some areas. This is an opportunity to access some parts of the reserve that the public don’t get access to.

At Church Norton we have specialized vegetated…

What to look for in summer…

The highlight of summer at Pagham Harbour is our tern colony. Taking a leisurely stroll, starting from our Visitor Centre, pass through the Discovery Zone. The pond is full of life with backswimmers and boatman sculling below the surface and newts coming up for a gulp of air. Dragonflies patrol the airways above with a clash of wings and dainty damselflies land lightly on the vegetation…

Spring is upon us and the blackthorn bushes are bursting into a froth of white blossom across our reserves. Goat or ‘pussy’ willow catkins are opening to show their ‘furry paws’ from which they get their nickname.

As they ripen, they turn yellow with pollen and are a magnet for the early bees, hoverflies and other insects. The air around the willow positively thrums with their sound of busy wings…

The signs that winter is losing its grip and spring is almost upon us, can be found across our reserve.

Snowdrops are putting on a lovely display outside the Visitor Centre.

'Lords & ladies' or cuckoo-pint (Arum maculatum) are popping up all over the place.

Meanwhile the tits are checking out our nest boxes - the males leading the females to a protective des-res for her inspection. Like anyone looking for…

It’s that time of year again. Yes, Big Garden Birdwatch is back.

The world’s largest bird survey has been running for over 40 years and provides vital information on the health of our natural world. For example did you know, it was one of the first surveys to identify the decline of song thrushes in gardens. This species was a firm fixture in the top 10 in 1979, but by 2019, those numbers had declined by 76% …

When the wind is brisk across the Manhood Peninsula it can be a bit forbidding on our reserves of Pagham Harbour and Medmerry in particular. Nevertheless, there are rewards for those that make the effort. Our sheltered inlets, saltmarsh and mudflats are a magnet for wintering wildfowl and waders, which come and go with the ebb and flow of the tides.

Brent geese, teal and wigeon can be found in the harbour and pools across…

We know that for many of you, RSPB Pagham Harbour & Medmerry reserves provide enjoyment and solace in the natural world throughout these challenging times. In line with Government guidance on essential, daily exercise outdoors, during #SecondLockdown, our car park, trails and toilets remain open for you to visit. Please follow all current Government guidance around social distancing, who you can visit with, hygiene and…

Autumn is a great time on the reserve with birds moving through as they head on to their wintering grounds. Sitting on the Manhood Peninsula jutting out into the English Channel, many birds pause here to feed up before taking the next step across the water. Wheatear are best encountered along the shingle beaches and any fence line is worth checking for whinchat.

Whinchat - Ivan Lang

Spotted and pied flycatchers can be…

This is the final part to our nesting birds blog. To read parts one and two please use the links below:

https://community.rspb.org.uk/placestovisit/paghamharbour/b/weblog/posts/nesting-birds---not-always-where-you-expect-part1

https://community.rspb.org.uk/placestovisit/paghamharbour/b/weblog/posts/nesting-birds---not-always-where-you-expect-pt-2

How can you help us give these birds the best chances of survival?

We hope…

This is a continuation of our nesting bird blog, if you have not read part one, please follow the link below:

https://community.rspb.org.uk/placestovisit/paghamharbour/b/weblog/posts/nesting-birds---not-always-where-you-expect-part1

Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)

Avocets, which you may recognise from the RSPB’s logo, nest near brackish water and bare mud in loose colonies of up to 150 birds. Both parents pitch in to…

Picture a nest in your mind. Is it in a tree or a bush? Is it made from twigs and leaves? Those are the thoughts that generally spring to mind but in many cases, they are not true at all. Did you know that a lot of bird species do not nest in trees, or even build what you might consider a conventional nest? Nesting season is quickly getting underway at Pagham Harbour and Medmerry, so we are breaking down the nesting behaviour…

Following the latest clear instructions from the Government for us all to remain at home apart from a limited number of allowed activities, we are closing our reserve to visitors until further notice. 

This means we will close our car park, toilets and hides to the public. These measures are on top of the existing closure of our visitor centre.  It is with great sadness that we ask people to refrain from visiting the RSPB…

The spring has finally come in a bit of sunny weather, but please remember to check the latest advice regarding visiting our reserves and the government before venturing out.

Sightings for 22nd March 2020

Ferry Pool

33 Shoveler

13 Gadwall

50 Wigeon

50 Black-Tailed Godwit

7 Avocet

Stilt Pools, Medmerry

38 Avocet

2 Gadwall

2 Little Ringed Plover

5 Brent Geese

Avocet of Stilt Pools

Little Ringed Plover

Marsh Barn, …

In light of recent events in line with government advice the visitor centre at Pagham is now closed for the foreseeable future. However the Reserve does remain open for visitors to enjoy the on set of spring, but please continue to follow all the advice that is presently being issued by the government by socially distancing whilst enjoying the reserve and remember that the advice is changing in this rapidly developing…

So the big news is that our tawny owl is sitting on at least one egg. This was the view we got on Thursday 19 March.

She will have started incubating straight away and may end up laying three eggs. This means that the eggs will not all hatch at the same time and is a strategy common in owls and other raptors. The first chicks (or owlets) to hatch have a head start on their siblings and inevitably are able to beg more…

Following the latest government advice, we have made the difficult decision to close our visitor centre to visitors by Friday 20 March. All our March and April events are also cancelled. This is to prioritise the health and welfare of our staff, volunteers and visitors.

These are difficult and unsettling times for all of us, but we hope that nature can provide a welcome respite in whichever form and wherever you may encounter…

She has kept us waiting and I confess I was starting to think she might not return this year, but this weekend we turned on the nestcams and there she was... the tawny owl. 

Last year the tawny owls were very successful, raising 3 owlets and giving us wonderful views on the TV in our Visitor Centre.  

Our most common UK owl, the tawny owl is about the size of a wood pigeon, with a tubby body, large round head and rounded…

Yesterday, with the help of @wildsussex we put the kestrel box back up. This morning the kestrels returned and have even been doing food passes in the box, reaffirming their pair bond and rights to this des-res!

Yes RSPB Pagham Harbour & Medmerry now has it's own Facebook page... https://www.facebook.com/RSPBPaghamHarbour/

The vegetative shingle habitats around the reserve provide some of our most threated species a safe place to live. However with the  daily rise and fall of the tide a continuous delivery of a variety of waste is deposited on the beach. This will pose a unseen threat to the species that are either feed in the strandline or collect their nesting material from it. As the New Year is heralded in 17 keen volunteers donned their…

The highlight of a quiet autumn migration was the appearance of a juvenile Rose-Coloured Starling which appeared for a few days with the starlings feeding in the saltmarsh off the tramway near the visitor centre. The migrants started for flow through and many birdwatchers marvelled at Redstarts, Ringed Ouzels, Spotted and Pied flycatchers as they fed up before their crossings to the continent and on towards Africa. Out…

The seabird season has finally ended with the final Sandwich Terns fledging at the beginning of the month. The final results of a very successful season are 13 Little Tern, 139 Sandwich Tern and 12 Common Tern fledged. Nevertheless, there has been a continued present of a large post breed flock of terns around Church Norton consisting predominantly of Sandwich Tern with a few common and little amongst them. Some lucky…