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Writer's pictureSim Elliott

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

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


Little Egret



Saltmarsh Landscapes


Canada Goose (huge numbers of Canada Geese overwinter around Chichester Harbour and Pagham)


Saltmarsh scenes; this path is submerged at high tide



Sea Aster


There were many dead crabs around the harbour



Lichen



Dusk



Waiting for the bus at the Pagham Harbour I saw some Chiffchaffs and a Blue Tit in the trees opposite the visitors' centre


Two juvenile Chiffchaffs. Phylloscopus collybita


Blue Tit, Cyanistes caeruleus

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