RSPB Pagham Harbour; Cattle Egret, Black Tailed Godwits & Wigeon 21.09.21

Sim Elliott
Sep 26, 2021
2 min read

Aside the path to the Ferry Pool there were bramble bushes still in flower; whereas nearly everywhere at the moment the brambles are in fruit. This small patch of flowering bramble provided forage for insects (and their predators).

European Garden Spider, Aaneus diadernatus.

Drone Fly, Eristalis tenax (a bee mimic hoverfly)

Eupeodes genus hoverfly.

Bramble flower

Large White, Pieris brassicae

Common Carder Bumblebee, Bombus pascuorum

Ferry Pool

Lapwings and Godwits

Shelducks, Black Headed Gulls,

Ferry Channel showing very high tide

Buzzard on the fence around the Ferry Pool

Common Marlow, Malva sylvestris

It’s fruit looks like wedges of cheese, leading to lots of cheese-themed local names across the country: bread and cheese, chucky cheese, custard cheeses, fairy cheeses, lady’s Cheese and truckles of Cheese. They taste, however, more like peanuts.
Greeks and Romans ate the young shoots of Common Mallow.
The French for Mallow is 'mauve,' and is where the colour name comes from. Common Mallow (Malva sylvestris) (plantlife.org.uk)

High tide on the saltmarsh

Mallard

Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta, on the path toward Sidelsham Quay

Insects in the flowers in a garden at Sidlesham Quay

Buff-tailed bumblebee, Bombus terrestris

Garden Bumblebee, Bombus hortorum

Common Carder, Bombus pascuorum

Drone Fly, Eristalis tenax (a bee mimic hoverfly)

Donkey - on the path to North Wall

Common Darter, Sympetrum striolatum

Cattle Egrets in a field of Friesian Cows at Halsey's Farm

Grey Heron in the same field

Little Egrets and a Great Heron

Cattle Egret, Bubulcus ibis

From North Wall, looking south

Redshank, Tringa totanus

Little Egret, Egretta garzetta, in the heronry at North Wall

Curlew, Numenius arquata. UK conservation status red. Field north of the North Wall

I field a little to the west of the Curlews, a flock of Black Tailed Godwits, Limosa limosa, arrived to forage

Juvenile Lapwing, Vanellus vanellus, UK conservation status red

Wigeons, Anas penelope

The wigeon is a medium-sized duck with a round head and small bill. The head and neck of the male are chestnut, with a yellow forehead, pink breast and grey body. In flight birds show white bellies and males have a large white wing patch.

Wigeons breed in central and northern Scotland and also in northern England. Many birds visit the UK in winter from Iceland, Scandinavia and Russia. With large numbers of wintering birds at a few UK sites, it is an Amber List species. Wigeon Duck Facts | Anas Penelope - The RSPB