Sunday 17 August 2014

A very windy and pretty quiet day today, not much at Medmerry or Sidlesham, a few bits at Church Norton though:

Curlew:




Common Darter (female):




Red Admirals on Water Mint:




Comma:




Holly Blue:




Many Speckled Woods also about, particularly near the graveyard path.

It struck me after walking round the "Discovery Area"  (the area supposed to attract youngsters into the nature watching game) by the visitor centre at Pagham RSPB how poor and run down the place has become-no new plantings of Fleabane or any other butterfly plants as far as I'm aware and generally in need of some TLC whilst the Ferry Pool hide needs a good clean-up and the fence is not great here either; the visitor centre is terrible compared to most others and  the paths down to Church Norton are nearly impassable in places. The hide and the steps at Church Norton have both been repaired by volunteers and a stray fishing net was hauled out by a birder which makes me think that a bit of actual graft is required by the warden and his staff! Of course you can't fault Medmerry but perhaps when this is up and running some thought could be given to the Sidlesham site.