Friday is synonymous with fish so on the way to Julies in Selsey for tonights dinner we stopped off at Church Norton for a short walk. It’s clearly been busy there at the little car park during the pandemic as there were still signs up indicating that it was full, they suggested drivers go to the main RSPB cat park. Today the only others there were fishermen heading off to the shingle banks, probably the entrance to the harbour before the tide flowed in.
On the shingle were lots of patches of Sea Kale, all looking very healthy and spreading all over the banks. Some of them looked like they had flowered and small globules in bunches, but only a few. I though they were sea cabbage but their proper name is sea kale and apparenlty they’re edible, I should have picked a few fresh leaves to try.
Near the reed beds a Heron flew off, probably it had been fishing in the pond there. Apart from that there was little else that was noteworthy, the crops had been harvested, plenty of Ragwort, a few sprigs of willow herb about. This Hawkweed Ox Tongue had taken over a fenced in patch of waste ground where they keep even more old vehicles.
On the way out we passed a memorial to RAF Selsey that I hadn’t noticed before. It seems that it had
extended over the fields leading up to Church Norton; I’ve seen it mentioned in several places but not located. It was an advanced landing ground used by spitfires and Typhoons with squadrons made up
of various nationalities. Apparently there’s the remains of a hangar nearby but not much else is left of what is shown here in this aerial view.. This whole area must have been a hive of activity leading up to and just after D-Day.