6th August - RSPB Pagham Harbour, North Wall, West Sussex

Through the week there have been a couple of rarities around, both of which I was interested in seeing.  The challenge though, was going to be arranging the logistics of getting to them, one was a Whiskered Tern at Fishlake and the other was a Squacco Heron at Pagham Harbour, which one do I go for first and how much would the holiday traffic have an impact on getting about?

Both birds were still around on Thursday, but come Friday the Heron was reported early morning and whilst the Tern, that had been reported early morning through the week was not reported.  I waited and watched for reports through the day, but there was nothing.  With no reports late into the evening the decision was made for me, so Saturday morning I was up early and heading for the familiar Mill Lane in Sidlesham.  I parked on the bend near the gates for Halsey's Farm and set off up the track.  Normally Helen and I would do this in the late afternoon when staying at the Crab and Lobster so it felt strange walking towards a low sun.  Coming through the gates I could see movement and at first I thought it was another birder then I realised the it was a herd of cows, then I could see a lot of egrets in the grass around the cattle.

I went through the gate and immediately put up flocks of Cattle Egret, with the low sun, warmth and the dried yellow grass it was like stepping into some of the scenes we had experienced in Rajasthan in India.  Cattle Egrets flying around the cattle looking for any morsel of food the cattle were going to disturb.

As I walked along the baked hard mud of the footpath more and more Cattle Egrets flew up from the long grass, it felt even more like the Indian experiences.

One circling around and coming over my head.

It really was a stunning scene, the wonderful early morning light setting a quite beautiful scene as at least forty Cattle Egrets circled around the filed above the cattle.

They headed towards the trees and bushes where they settled at the top of the branches.  The bill colour indicated adults and immature birds, the adults having the orange yellow bill, while the immature birds have a dark black bill.

But I wasn't here for the Cattle Egrets, but they were an amazing sight to see.  I was here to find the Squacco Heron and walked on towards the gate that leads up onto the path around the north wall of Pagham Harbour.  Climbing up on to the path, I was greeted by a different view to that I was used to, the rising sun lighting up the harbour.  The tide was on the turn and the water had fallen enough to show quite a bit of mud.  Feeding on the mud were Redshank and Curlew and a few Ringed Plover.

It was in the late eighteenth century that maps started to show the north wall of Pagham Harbour, the main objective to reclaim the land from the sea.  Eventually this extended all around to what is now the main road running from Chichester to Selsey.  I could see another birder already scanning the rife where the heron has been frequenting.  It is though that this could possibly be the same bird that was resident in the same place back in August 2019.  It didn't take much looking to find the heron as it was standing just outside the reeds on the rife.

The Squacco Heron is a brownish-buff bird that blends completely into its surroundings. It typically is a lone feeder, standing, crouched low and still, watching for prey in the water below. It is bird of dense marshes and rice fields.

It flew from the original position and settled a little further away on the edge of the rife.

The Squacco Heron is found in Europe, Africa, Madagascar, and the Middle East to Iran.  The northern populations in Europe and West Asia are migratory. Southward migration is August–November, and appears to occur at a rather leisurely pace. Birds move in a broad front across Europe, the Middle East and the Sahara. Return migration is in February and March to as late as May. Migration appears to be along a broad front in that migrating birds are seen widely throughout the Mediterranean and its islands. Migration in both seasons crosses the Sahara.  It is known as a rare vagrant to the UK and Ireland with singles occurring annually on and off

The Squacco Heron typically feeds by standing very patiently and perfectly still, waiting for prey to approach. It also walks, very slowly, searching for prey in a very crouched posture, either in the open or among the reeds.  Feeding generally takes place among the vegetation at the edge of a pond or ditch. It also has been reported as feeding from branches over the water.

The English common name squacco comes a local Italian name sguacco, the "g" being replaced with a "q".  The name itself describes the alarm call that the bird emits

From the reeds it took off and headed away from us once again, in flight the bird transforms from the buff coloured bird to mostly white when the white wings and tail are revealed.

It headed towards a fence that jutted out into the rife alongside the reeds, perched on the fence was a Cattle Egret, the Squacco Heron wanted to land on the fence and appeared to be determined to chase the Cattle Egret off, but with a raised orange crest the Cattle Egret looked determined to keep its ground.

What followed appeared quite bizarre, two heron species that up until the last few years were more commonly found in the southern Mediterranean fighting out a territorial battle in West Sussex!

There is something about the appearance of the Cattle Egret that looks just like a small dinosaur, the crest raised, the formidable bill and long scaly legs.

The Squacco Heron dropped into the grass and out of view.  I stood and waited to see if it would re-appear.  As I waited a couple of Green Woodpecker flew across the field and into a dead tree.

I realised that the heron was not going to appear anytime soon and that it wasn't going to leave the area so I decided to walk around to the breech Pool ,to see what was there.  The tide falling also meant that there maybe some waders in White's Creek.

Walking along the footpath disturbed the waders, this Curlew taking off with a call.

This one less bothered, feeding just below the sea wall.

About 50% of the breech pool was dried out, a single Lapwing sat calling in the middle of the dried mud.  On the other side there was some water, although this wasn't very deep

Black-tailed Godwits in various stages of summer and non breeding plumage fed in the centre of the pool of water.

The only waders found along the edge of White's Creek were a small number of Dunlin, Redshank and a single distant summer plumaged Bar-tailed Godwit.  Walking back I was taken by the reflections in the mud and water and the lone Redshank.

A Great Spotted Woodpecker called from a tree on the outside of Owl Copse

Back where I started, there was no immediate sign of the Squacco Heron, but there was a white shape in a distant tree, that turned out to be the heron

This was quite close to where the footpath crosses towards Halsey's farm, the same area I had watched the Barn Owl back in February.  I decided to walk back, pick up the footpath and see how close I could get to the heron in the tree.

There was a good number of Sand Martin flying around the field, coming low across the grass and then up and around the hawthorn bushes.

I walked out into the middle of the field to get a better view of the tree and the heron.

I edged closer, the heron did not seem too concerned.

The adult nonbreeding Squacco Heron has a head that is finely streaked in black, brown, and grey, forming a modest crown but no elongated plumes in nonbreeding season. The relatively large and powerful bill is pale green yellow with a black tip and top. The lores are dull yellow green. The irises are yellow. The hind neck, like the head, is finely streaked in black, brown and grey. The upperparts are buff brown with slight tawny tinge. The wings are white as seen in flight, but here and are mostly concealed at rest by the tawny back plumes.

Although it watched my approach it did not appear concerned and I was able to get in a position where I was close enough for a decent photograph and to change the background.

While I have seen Squacco Heron in Africa, I had not seen one in the UK before, so this Squacco Heron had the honour of being my 300th UK bird.

I was squatting down and was able to watch the bird for a good time, however I didn't want to over stay and flush it so I decided to walk around to the footpath and make my way around the farm.  The cattle that had been grazing along the footpath at the top of the field had moved and were now close to the gate I was passing.  Where the cattle go the Cattle Egrets follow.

As I became more visible by the gate the Cattle Egrets were up and flying around the field.

And like earlier they settled on landing in the top of the surrounding trees.  I mentioned earlier about the aging of the Cattle egrets through there bill colour, here you can see the individual on the right has a dark bill, while the other two are adults with yellow bills, maybe a family party.

Most of the cattle Egrets dropped into the next field which was hidden from view by the farm and a small copse.  I decided that it was time to move on.  In my initial plans for the day this would have meant a trip to Fishlake Meadows, but again the news was negative from there so I changed the plans and headed down to the Solent coast.