Chichester Harbour, Saturday, 1 December 2007

This is a lovely walk from East Head, West Wittering to West Itchenor.

After an enjoyable lunch in The Ship pub, West Itchenor, I had planned a circular route back. The harbour coastal path is so interesting though that we retraced our steps in the face of squalls and gale force winds, despite the weather and lack of shelter on this exposed path. This is a very fine walk to do - especially in winter when the Brent geese and Lapwings are here.

This is a bird watcher's paradise; middle ground, the lovely Ann, a shy bird, rarely photographed and top left a little egret. Egrets are very common here.

Irish setter having fun and wearing the fashionable fragrance of winter 2007, namely dead seagull after liberally rubbing herself in it!

Butcher's broom, Ruscus aculeatus is common on this path at the base of old trees in this ancient wood. My apologies with the poor quality of this photo. I was being battered with gale force winds!

Portsmouth Millennium tower is clearly visible - especially through a zoom lens! The lovely views towards Bosham church, the burial place of King Canute's daughter are shown here. Click on any picture to expand it.

This panoramic view captures something of the harbour. I zoomed in for closer shots of Shell ducks. According to http://www.conservancy.co.uk/learn/wildlife/birds.htm some 80 pairs of Shell ducks nest in rabbit holes or dense undergrowth near the harbour. We saw every bird shown on this link and more. It is worth clicking on.

Hundreds of Brent geese were feeding on this grassland by the car park at West Wittering. Chichester and Pagham harbours are important wintering sites for these birds. They arrive in October and leave in March. So you have time to view this great flock.