Country diary: migrating birds follow the tides

Pagham Harbour, West Sussex: Waders check out the newly exposed mud as swallows and house martins chatter overheadA chiffchaff emits short, upward whistles as it searches for food among the trees that line the gravelled footpath. The track leads down from the car park towards the sea, passing a large, rising mound and the sweeping curve of a deep, circular ditch. The earthworks are all that is left of an 11th-century fortification, built by the Normans to guard the harbour entrance. Remains of a stone tower and another building, possibly a dwelling, were found, as was evidence of earlier Saxon and Roman occupation. Now sheep graze on the site.The path emerges from the dark overhanging trees to reveal a group of sapphire pools, reflecting the cloudless blue sky. A constant stream of chattering swallows and house martins is moving overhead, towards the distant sea wall and out to sea. In front of me, just a few metres away, a large brown wading bird is standing in the vegetation on the edge of the water. I instinctively stop and crouch slowly, quietly, to avoid disturbing it. Continue reading...