Already 2018 has shaped up with a series of dramatic weather events from the mild January in to February with lots of rain to the arctic weather of March. This makes Pagham an exciting place to visit at this time of year. With winter numbers reaching their peak over the three months, bird watching has been varied and exciting, watching the 1000’s of geese, ducks and waders reeling around. Along with the regular …

The new shelter in our Discovery Zone...

and Ferry Hide are very nearly complete and looking great...

Work has now started on the wheelchair friendly path that will link the Visitor Centre to the hide via the Discovery Zone, passing by the enlarged pond and shelter. The final part of construction will be the fencing which will commence once the path is complete and we are on track to open the area up again…

Christmas keeps the postmen and women busy delivering tidings and wishes from friends and relatives. We send over a billion cards in the UK each Christmas and all those used stamps can be put to good use raising funds for our Albatross Appeal.

17 out of 22 species of albatross are threatened with extinction. Each year, 100,000 albatrosses drown following capture on some of the billion baited hooks used by long-line…

Work is progressing well on our Discovery Zone and Ferry Hide project. The pond and shelter are taking shape before our eyes.

The deeper section is where the old pond used to be and the raised bank means that it will be protected should the harbour overtop and flood the area with saltwater again.

Meanwhile where the old Ferry Hide once sat, the new viewing facility is emerging like a dragonfly emerging after…

As the summer started to draw to the end the terns that give us such a great display over the harbour through the summer slowly drifted away to commence their journey southwards. This was the changing of the seasons and soon these birds that had spent the summer with us would be joined by their distance cousins passing though to escape the bleak months ahead. As they joined together for journeys ahead the first of the…

Pagham has a long history of moth monitoring and 2017 completed a 13th consecutive year of data collected from the visitor centre. Over that period 777 species have been recorded majority of them are recorded annual such large yellow underwing and this extensive data set allows the monitoring of these species and track the trends in their populations. Others are not so common and a wide range of more unusual species have…

Work started yesterday (20/11/17) on replacing Ferry Hide and upgrading our Discovery Area. Contractors have already removed the old hide and started to mark out the site for groundworks.

Now you see it…

When completed, the new Ferry viewing facility should look something like this…

And from the back…

We will be expanding the Discovery Area, increasing the mix of habitats available to…

All the focus over the last few weeks has been on Tern Island with the number of birds now breeding on the island reaching around 1000. Predominantly these are Black Headed Gulls with many nests now hatching and numerous young running around the island. Over the last week Sandwich (67prs), Common (28 prs) and Little Tern (21prs) have all been increasing their number of fishing trips and good numbers of fish are being…

As the spring draws to a close and the summer starts, the weather did it best to oblige with some warm and sunny weather at the end of May. The breeding season is in full flow and as this goes out there are lots of young birds running around the reserves. Out at Medmerry the Avocets are hatching with lots of young starting to find their way around the pools. Out on the spit a pair of Ringed Plover looks out for their…

18 May 2017

By Thursday you can see how developed our blue tit chicks were. They’d lost their big yellow gape, flight feathers looked strong with plenty of exercising going on and their tail feathers were growing well. Mum was still diving to the bottom of the nest to keep it clean but now with the size of the chicks, she disappeared completely with just her tail sticking out! I was due to have a couple of days off …

13 April 2017 - The rain this week may have affected the movements of insects as the blue tit parents upped their feeds to an average of 6 times every five minutes.

15 May 2017 - There must be a lot of calories in green caterpillars because the chicks have continued to change with dramatic speed and are more like teenagers now with feathers developing well and starting to get their markings and colouration.

10 April 2017 - Our blue tits are growing before our very eyes. Mum and dad have been excellent parents and our volunteers have been recording that they have been feeding the chicks on average 4 times every five minutes. A large percentage of the food has been green caterpillars.

You can see how much more feathers they have grown and the first chick has opened his eyes.

11 April 2017 - Mum has kept the nest…

Please be aware there is currently an outbreak of brown tailed moth caterpillars around Church Norton and on Pagham Harbour Spit.

Although they look very attractive, they are covered in thousands of barbed hairs. These hairs can cause skin irritation, rash and severe itching.

If you come across them, please do not touch them or their silk 'nests' in the vegetation which also contain hairs.

If you do get…

Last year we were lucky enough to follow the fortunes of a pair of breeding blue tits in one of our nest boxes and we were hoping we might be able to do the same this year. Our fabulous volunteers got boxes and cameras ready. Now all we needed was a cast.

On the 10 March this blue tit was seen checking out one of our nest boxes…

The female started to build a nest and was also spotted collecting the alpaca wool…

As February creeps in to March and the seasons change the expectation of the visitor and birdwatcher a like are raised at the approaching prospect of our returning summer migrants. March is the time when many of our winter visitors start their journeys northwards with many of Brent Geese, Pintail, and waders spending their last few days fuelling up. By the end of March few waders and waterfowl remained in the harbour…

Join us to ask questions, raise issues and make suggestions regarding our management of the areas of Pagham Harbour we look after.

The meetings are friendly, constructive and everyone is welcome.

Tuesday 25 April, 4.30pm - 6.30pm at RSPB Pagham Harbour Visitor Centre, Selsey Road, Sidlesham, PO20 7NE

Chair: Cllr Margaret Evans, West Sussex County Council

For further information 01243 641508

Minutes of the previous…

Looking out of the Visitor Centre window this week something caught my eye. On closer inspection it turned out to be a little clump of snowdrops that had finally woke from their winter slumber. It is often called the Flower of Hope as it is one of the first flowers to bloom signifying winter is coming to an end and warmer weather is coming.

Wandering along the footpath towards Ferry I came across more promise of…

The dawning of the New Year brings in the excitement of what the reserve has to offer. Many birds swarm on the reserve in January to start that all important year list. Whilst the rest of the visitor are able to stand in awe of flocks of duck, waders and of course the geese which are present in the harbour at present. Also can be a good time see birds of prey with Buzzard, Merlin, Sparrowhawk and if you are lucky a Barn…

A mild autumn period has lead to a very slow build up of winter waders and wildfowl very noticeable is the small numbers of Brent Geese with a flock of less than a 500 over the last month. With a change in the weather the Wigeon and Teal are very prevalent at the present around the reserve.

Flock of Brent Geese

Over the period there has been a regular sight of some unusual winter visitor. Up to two Long Tailed Du…

October is renown for the arrival of migrants either moving through towards Africa or winter here at the reserve. Strong easterlies have been affecting the UK throughout October which has brought a spectacular selection of rare migrants to there north and the east of the UK. However the reserve has remained relatively quiet for the month with settled weather and light winds. As the month draws to a close a few late migrants…

This time of year is usually dominated with the birding news but generally the migration has been relatively quite with a flash of excitement. The weather has been very favourable over the month with many sunny days which has favoured many of the migrant’s onward journeys to their wintering quarters. One constant through the month was the constant stream of Osprey sightings both at Pagham and Medmerry with up to…

Migration is one of those time’s of year to get all birders in a bit of a tizz as the expectation levels rise for the arrival of any unexpected visitors to the reserve. Last week many of the regular birders were rewarded by not one unusually visitor but two. The first was a Glossy Ibis which was present in Ferry Field and located by the reserve volunteers before flying off to remerge on the Breach Pool. The second…

Well the summer is coming to an end with soaring temperatures and sticky summer days. The breeding season is now over and the beginning of the autumn movement of birds. Out on the pools the passage waders are starting their long journey southwards Ruff, Common Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper and Little Ringed Plover have all be reported. The first passerines have already passed through with Church Norton worth a look through…

On Saturday evening 30 Big Wild Sleepouters arrived at Pagham Harbour for a night of adventure. Having erected tents and enjoyed picnics in the early evening sunshine, we started our evenings activities with pond dipping, bug hunting and Animal-Olympics!

Let the dipping and bug hunting commence!

A bug hunter at work!

Water beetles, dragonfly and damselfly nymphs, water boatmen, newts and much more were all…

When the term twitching is used in connection with wildlife then everyone immediately assumes the hoards of people rushing to some rare bird that has turns up lost on its way south or northwards during migration. However it is not only birds that migrate many invertebrates do as well. Many of the well known butterfly species that you see in your garden may have made the journey across the channel to feed on your flowers…