On a sunny Sunday morning, eleven of us met at RSPB Pagham Harbour for the walk out to Church Norton.  Whilst waiting for everyone to arrive, we saw a large flock of Goldfinches and Lapwings above the car park, as well as a number of House Martins overhead.

Once at the Ferry Pool hide, the only birds visible were three young Shelducks and a couple of Teal, but the feeders gave us sightings of Blackcap, Greater Spotted Woodpecker, and Dunnock.  In the channel opposite the Ferry Pool there was a Black Tailed Godwit along with the first of many Redshank, some assorted Mallard and Wigeon.

On the way to the bench along the long pool, we sighted Buzzard, Kestrel, and a Sparrowhawk. Some of us saw a Snipe and a Cetti’s Warbler that perched in full view for us, a Chiffchaff, a Reed Bunting and Linnets.  Once at the bench we were rewarded with a wonderful sighting of an Osprey, plus a lone Knot, Cattle Egret and Grey Herons.  We then made our way a little further on to find Ringed Plovers, Dunlin, Curlew, Oystercatcher and Little Egrets.  From the high path to the hide, three of the group had a good view of a Whimbrel, then a Curlew flew in which gave us a great comparison of the differences in size and bill length, between the two species.

At the Church Norton hide we were fortunate to find two Spotted Flycatchers, a Green Woodpecker, Blackcap, and what was most probably a Willow Warbler.  Out in the harbour looking out to Tern Island there was a Bar Tailed Godwit, a Grey Plover, and some Turnstone.

Once on the beach, we observed an Arctic Skua flying low and fast over the water, and a very large flock of distant gulls which contained Gannets diving for fish. A Great Crested Grebe was also sighted from the beach.

On the way back to the Visitors Centre, the Snipe was seen again, this time by the whole group. An Avocet was the last bird to be seen, which brought our count for the day to 70 species.