24th January - Emsworth to Nutbourne, Chichester Harbour

Today was my birthday and we had taken the opportunity to have a weekend away, staying just outside of Emsworth on the border of Hampshire and West Sussex.  The one time I have been to Emsworth was December 2024, then for a Black-throated Diver on the Mill Pond.  Nothing like that around today, but we were off on a walk and to be honest I had no idea where we were going.

From the hotel we walked down Beach Road toward the water front, this being on the edge of Chichester Harbour.  The skies were blue, but with a very strong south easterly wind it felt cold.  There was a threat of rain later in the day so we were hopeful we could have a good walk before it arrived.  The tide though was low, with it just being low tide an hour ago.

A black and white view, looking east towards Thorney Island and West Sussex.

There is a path around the Mill Pond, but it was very blowy and exposed.  Black-tailed Godwits and Redshank were feeding in the channels and at the Mill there was a Black Swan amongst the Mutes.

We walked through the centre of Emsworth and eventually found the path around the Slipper Pond that took us through the marina and out on tt the sea wall that leads towards Thorney Island.  I was here just before Christmas, then it was also sunny, but cold and still, today the reeds were blowing.  Back in December I had great views of Bearded Tit, today I heard a few pings from the reeds but didn't see anything.

We walked on the lower path out of the wind.  It was very quiet.  At the Great Deeps there were plenty of Coot on the water, Teal, Wigeon and Black-tailed Godwits.  Looking up the channel there were two Greenshank roosting on the shore.

We had no intention of walking around Thorney, so turned back, this time on the higher path.  With the tide rising the waders were pushed closer.  There were a few Dunlin feeding on the mud

Out on the sea a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers bobbed on the choppy water.

There was the constant calls of Brent Geese out in the harbour and every so often there would be groups flying over the sea wall and towards the fields of Thorney Island.

 I watched this Oystercatcher chiselling away at something under the water.

Wigeon flying out towards the harbour.

We decided to walk across Thorney Island to pick up the Coastal path as it made its way around the sea wall.  Walking the footpath towards the coastal path a Green Woodpecker was flushed from the field alongside the path.  We headed east with the tide rising.  The sun was still with us, if a little watery now and cloud building up to the west.

A stream or rife as it is known in this area ran on the other side of the path and there was a feel of the same area at the North Wall at Pagham.  In the fields behind the Rife there were pools of water in the field and there were Curlews feeding and taking the opportunity to bathe in the freshwater.

The largest wader in the UK, they have an elegance about them.

A feeding group.

As well as the Curlew there was also a pair of Oystercatchers in the field, but they soon departed.

It was the case of checking the map and the weather, by turning north and heading towards the old A27 we had the option of a bus should the weather turn against us.  But while all was well we kept going passing the village of Southbourne and walking towards Nutbourne.  There was a footpath that turns north at a small bay.  We paused here as there was a selection of duck and few waders on the water and mud.  A pair of Wigeon close in.

There was a few Redshank and a single Black-tailed Godwit, but of greater interest was a pair of Pintail preening on one of the banks.

The footpath that led to Nutbourne followed a stream that had flooded the field.  There were a lot of Teal, mainly drakes who were trying to attract the attention of the few ducks with their whistles and head bobbing.

As we came up onto the main road we were delighted to find a cafe on the corner.  It turned out to be a really nice place.  From the cafe we decided to walk the main road west back towards Emsworth.  This was the bus route so we had the option to get the bus should we need to.  We kept going and made it all the way to Emsworth.  As we walked into the village centre I noticed this sign outside and old car garage.  This seemed to hark back to the sixties by the look of the decor, but it was the sign for National outside.  National was a petrol station I remembered from back in the seventies.  I had worked at one in my home village of Kennington just outside Oxford.  An iconic signage

I had to find out what happened to National so spent sometime when I got home researching them.

National was a petroleum brand used in the United Kingdom from 1919 to the 1990s. In 1957, the National Benzole Co. became wholly owned by Shell-Mex & BP (through British Petroleum) but continued its separate trading identity. In the early 1960s, National Benzole was re-branded as National and continued trading as a UK retailer of petroleum products until the early 1990s, when the brand was phased out by parent company, BP.

To sustain the success, an imaginative advertising campaign was developed, and in 1928, Mr Mercury – startlingly naked – leapt for the first time from the pages of the national newspapers.

Mr. Mercury, in National Benzole's black and chrome gold corporate colours, became one of the most powerful marketing images of this age. Almost every service station in the 1930s had a National Benzole pump, for single-brand sites were unknown in those days. Eventually, Mr. Mercury's head was used as the brand's logo. At the outbreak of the Second World War, all petrol brands gave way to pool petrol.

Mr. Mercury returned in 1953, now more modestly attired in the advertisements, though he retained his winged helmet, and National Benzole quickly re-established itself as a market leader.  

In 1959 Mr. Mercury's black and chrome gave way to a sparkling new yellow, blue and white sign which is what I was looking at today and remembering from the past.

We made our way back to the hotel still not needing to take the bus.  It was an interesting day, a lovely walk where the rain stayed away and despite the strong wind thoroughly enjoyable.  Then the opportunity to reminisce about old petrol brands before dinner and drinks to celebrate another year ticked off