If you have been following the Wardens blog (http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/placestovisit/paghamharbour/b/weblog/default.aspx), you will be aware of all the avian excitement we’ve been having recently, but we also had a suprise of another sort...
A gentleman came to read our water meter and got a bit of a shock when he found a colony of honeybees had set up home inside! With the meter-man refusing to take his reading, it was time to don my bee suit and have a chat with queenie and her ensemble. The industrious ladies (all the worker bees are females – you can add your own comments here), were very cooperative, being quite agreeable and are now re-housed in a new hive without any unsightly plumbing.
The reserve is looking beautiful at the moment and one our volunteers Trevor has been educating me in the delights of grass vetchling, which cropped up by our bee orchids opposite the dipping pond. This member of the pea family is almost indistinguishable from grass until it comes into flower, so you might be forgiven if like me, you’ve never come across it before.
Grass vetchling, photo: Bill Brooks
Bee orchid, photo: Bill Brooks
As well as all the wildlife being busy at the moment, so are we. If you’ve visited recently, you may have noticed we have some work going on with our Visitor Centre. A group of students from Chichester College are very kindly painting the centre and toilet block as part of their Construction Community Works Projects course funded by Chichester District Council and Chichester College.
This week work will also commence on resurfacing the car park at Church Norton, courtesy of donations from Friends of Pagham Harbour and Sussex Ornithological Society. With this in mind please be advised that the car park will be closed from Wednesday 24th to Friday 26th July.
And finally, our summer programme of events is now out, so don’t forget to check the Events page or pop by the Visitor Centre to pick up a leaflet.