It’s Friday which means fish and a trip to Julies, so our walk this morning is around Pagham Harbour. As
we walk down to the foreshore there’s the whine of a chain saw and that autumnal smell of a bonfire. The smoke has a pleasant resinous tang to it, perhaps someone is removing the pine trees that have no right to be there. More likely it’s burning floor boards or roof timbers from the rather scruffy farm that’s nearby.
It’s just over an hour past low water, but it is neaps, so there’s a blend of water and mud about the harbour. Today it’s dominated by Brent geese
that have dropped by to roost, clearly they’re not that hungry. It’s not often that there’s so many here, perhaps they feel secure. They seem to have frightened off all the other wildfowl, there’s hardly any duck to be seen.
The path clearly shows where the high tides of a few days ago reached, the strand line is along the fence. The path had been completely submerged which is worth noting. Over the fence we see where the duck have gone to, they’re on the ponds close by. There are plenty of wigeon whistling quietly, there are also some diminutive
teal.
Further on where the ponds drain into the harbour there’s a flock of gulls fighting together over the fresh water. They’re oblivious to us as we pass by quite near to them, screaming at each other and occasionally diving into the water. What’s there for them is not clear, perhaps some small fish are being swept away by the unusually strong outflow.