Our second ramble this month was a bit of a gamble as it was not very long in distance, but by starting a bit later and having a nice relaxing trundle, taking photos, looking at the wildlife etc. the 6 of us on scooters and 1 walker had a most enjoyable day. When we started at mid-day the tide in Pagham Harbour was out and all we could see was mud and lots and lots of foliage actually growing in the harbour mud, pleased to see an egret having a good feed on the mudbank, and various other water birds. Lovely views for miles across the harbour – but no water.
Had lunch and then the RSPB kindly gave us a half an hour talk about their work there, it was very interesting and Pagham is a unique harbour and has two tides a day, so that when we re-commenced the second part of the ramble the tide had come right in again – within the space of a couple of hours – and all the foliage was hidden. We went up to Sidlesham Mill, beautiful views reminiscent of Norfolk, water very blue, popped in the “Crab and Lobster” for a soft drink and returned to the Centre by which time the tide was on the way out again, so we saw it in all its stages, this time the foliage was peeping through the top of the water, it is like an underwater field. It is what they call a saline lagoon. A really fascinating area and we hope to explore it a lot more in the future. After this we went and had a nice meal in the “Spotted Cow” pub, what some lovely names! The weather was perfect and the company great, we had good fun and thanks to everyone who came and made it such a good day.
Rgds, Val.
