The beautiful melancholy call of the curlew drifts across the saltmarsh. One of our largest wading birds, it is that distinctive long downcurved bill that gives it away. Stepping tentatively across the mud it gently probes the surface, before suddenly plunging deep to recover a meal hidden in the oozing depths.
The curlew is just one of many characters that you will find across our RSPB Pagham Harbour & Medmerry reserves at this time of year. With winter looming we see an influx of thousands of migrating wildfowl and waders as they arrive from their breeding grounds in the north, to seek milder climes that can still provide food and shelter.
Pagham Harbour is particularly important for brent geese and pintail ducks, and as such, is internationally recognised. Brent geese are small, dark, plump geese, similar in size to a mallard duck, with a small white neck patch and white undertail. They constantly babble in conversation with one another as they feed in flocks, sometimes on the water upending like ducks, bobbing on the surface to reach the vegetation beneath, sometimes grazing in the surrounding fields.
Joining them are rafts wigeon and teal ducks. Male wigeon sport a very ‘punk-like’ yellow stripe across the top of their chestnut heads and a pink breast. A yellow bottom gives away the male teal, along with its green eye-patch that extends to the back of its chestnut head down to a grey body.
Flocks of nervous lapwing rise together, in a cloud of flickering black and white, spooked by a passing raptor or possibly their own shadow! However, catch the ‘peewit’ in a good light and you will understand it’s alternative name, green plover, as its dark upper plumage turns an iridescent olive as the sun catches it. Grey and golden plovers and dunlin also gather in numbers, flying in flocks in mesmerising twisting and turning synchronisation.
Meanwhile, along the beach, small waders run up and down the strandline like children playing ‘catch me’ with each wave breaking on the shore. These are turnstones and as their name suggests, they flick and turn over the stones, seaweed and debris in search of the crustaceans and other invertebrates hidden amongst them. With a very dark brown head and back, a white belly and bright orange legs, they can be quite confiding and are a delight to watch as they scuttle to and fro.
The days may be shorter and bleaker, but there is always plenty to encounter and experience on our reserves. So, pull your boots on, grab a scarf and discover your own delights at Pagham Harbour & Medmerry, or alternatively join one of our guided walks and find them with us. For more information go to our website https://events.rspb.org.uk/paghamharbour
Pagham Harbour and Medmerry are unspoilt jewels in the West Sussex coastline, easily accessible south of Chichester on the Manhood Peninsula. For more information you can pop into our Visitor Centre on the B2145 between Chichester and Selsey, or check out our website www.rspb.org.uk/paghamharbour.
