Today, Jayne and I visited RSPB Pagham Harbour and Kithurst Hill. The first site was a new reserve for us, where we set out to find some terns. The second site, also a new place to visit, was visited in search of butterflies.
We arrived at Pagham and found out that the tern colony had been badly hit by Bird Flu for the last few years. As a result, there weren't any birds nesting this year! The ranger did say, however, that there still a few birds flying around, so we set off on the on the 1.6 mile walk down to the beach. On the way, we spotted many small birds, including Cettis Warbler, Linnet, and Whitethroats. The tide was out, but we still managed to see a few water birds: Shelduck, Dunlin (c.30), Bar-tailed Godwit (6), Redshank, Mediterranean Gull (2 adults flying over), Black-headed Gull, Little Egret, Sandwich Tern (1 flew over - 174), Whimbrel (2 birds - 175) and Little Tern 3 birds - 176).
Back at the centre, we had a look around the Discovery Area, where a juvenile Tawny Owl was sitting in a tree near the nestbox. We also saw several Broad-bodied Chasers (males and females ovipositing), Common Blue Damselflies (in tandem) and a single male Emperor dragonfly.
After Pagham, we drove across to Kithurst Hill, in search of Duke of Burgundy butterflies. Unfortunately, we seemed to be a little late in the year, but we did spot: Dingy and Grizzled Skipper, Common Blue Butterfly, Small Blue, Cinnabar Moth, Vapourer moth caterpillar, Common Carpet and Common Lizard.
