If you’ve been following us on twitter or keeping up to date with our blog, you’ll already know that on the morning of Thursday 17 May the first of the kestrel eggs hatched. All five eggs went on to hatch over the course of Thursday and Friday. Mum will continue to brood the chicks for up to two weeks while dad is being kept busy hunting for the family. Typically he’ll bring in small mammals such as voles but will also…

After waiting for about a month and lots of hard work from their parents the Kestrels have hatched with two newly hatched young on the cameras whilst the third is hatching as this goes to press

also after the refit of tern island the gulls are setting up home

also the moths are now gracing the reserve

Scorched Carpet

Puss Moth

On Friday 11 May our blue tits hatched. Two eggs remained unhatched giving us a total of 9 bald and blind chicks. At first the female stayed with the chicks keeping them warm while the male brought in food. However, now both parents are feeding the hungry chicks, bringing in food on average times in 5 minutes. The chicks will not open their eyes until around 11 days old, so at the moment they are relying on sound to recognise…

Both our expectant nest-cam mothers have settled down to the job of incubation. Our kestrel laid another egg and finished with 5 eggs – a very respectable number!

She has been sitting for a few days now with the male sometimes taking a turn too and the young should hatch after 28 – 29 days.

The blue tit eggs have been harder to count as quite often the parents cover the eggs over with nesting material…

Over the last few months one of our volunteers has been very busy helping us update and revise our nest-cam system. This included a new kestrel cam which we put up last month. Within days of it being put in position a pair of kestrels took a keen interest...

On Saturday 14 April the female laid her first egg. Since then she has been laying almost every other day and is currently sitting on 4 eggs.

Kestrels typically…

Back in November last year we started work on replacing our Ferry Hide. Progress continued through winter although the weather at the start of the year proved challenging…

However, we have now opened the hide to the public. There are still some jobs to be completed and as such the windows are currently fixed shut for H&S reasons. The hide opening hours will mirror the Visitor Centre opening times (10am …

Over the last 5 years we have been part of the LIFE+ project for the recovery of the Little Terns . As part of the project we were able to carry out the construction of a new predator fencing and clearance work on the island.  Over the last week a contractor  has been out on the island carrying out this important habitat management work and species protection with the idea of protecting the seabird colony which has built up…

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…