A weekend away in Sidlesham had us setting out around mid morning to do the walk to Selsey along the footpaths of Pagham Harbour and the sea wall past Church Norton. It was overcast but mild with a light wind and the threat of rain and high winds later in the afternoon.
Scanning out of my room window I could see swirling flocks of Knot out in the harbour and above them the reason a Peregrine swooping in and scattering the waders everywhere. The hunt though did not appear to be succesful.
As we set off to walk the tide was rising and water could be seen moving in to the gullies of the salt marsh in the area around the old Sidlesham Quay. A Redshank flew off its piercing call breaking the silence of the marsh. For once I didn't have my camera with me and the photographs taken on the walk were with my phone, I have also taken the opportunity to process most of the images in black and white, which suited the monochromatic conditions of the day. The sun was showing through the cloud, providing a bright white spot in the cloud.
There were plenty of puddles on the path towards the RSPB, but it was not as muddy as I thought it would be. Out on the marsh duck could be seen moving about and several Little Egret were fishing in the channels as the rising tide brought water and its contents to them.
Many Brent Geese were gathering around the flooded vegetation, the geese continually calling and raising their heads and necks in anticipation of flying. I waited and captured them as they took off.
At Church Norton the water was edging slowly to cover the path that leads to the beach. It was a high tide reducing the amount of land available for the waders to roost. As a result large flocks of Knot and Dunlin could be seeing flying around, switching from silver to grey as they twisted and turned.
On the water were several Great crested Grebes and large flocks of Wigeon with a few Shelduck. We climbed the incline onto the beach and headed towards the sea wall with the wind blowing onto our backs.
The high tide was reinforced with the wind which had now picked up and was blowing from the south west. This was sending the waves crashing into the sea wall and groynes.
I was checking the gulls that were close in and passing off shore. Little Gulls had been reported and there was always the chance of one passing or scavenging in the surf for any small amount of food. I wasn't lucky, but did find this beautiful adult Mediterranean Gull, again all the photographs were taken with my phone and this one is in colour.
The sea wall was scattered with pebbles from the beach and in places was very wet from where the waves had crashed over. We soldiered on but it became quite clear that id we were to walk this route we were going to get very wet.
In the end we decided to get down from the sea wall and head for the nearest pub. As a result we also opted for a taxi drive back to the Crab and Lobster ahead of some heavy rain that arrived in the afternoon.
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