Field Reports

A small group of eleven members met at the ‘sunken’ car park off Chidham Lane on a blustery day. Walking along the hedgerow in the first field we met an employee of the West Sussex County Council Public Rights of Way department. He told us about work done on the new King Charles III England Coast Path. The 53 km (33 miles) stretch of path from Shoreham-by-Sea to Eastbourne which is now open to the public. Work is now being done to enable the public to walk round Cobnor Point even at high tide.
Blue sky appeared in patches, kestrel, a flock of meadow pipits and small roe deer were seen plus a man training two young retrievers all in the same field. On reaching the Bosham Channel we walked along the embankment looking both ways to the Channel and the fields observing little egrets, grey heron, blue tits, swallow, goldfinch, yellow hammer and small white butterfly. Further along greenshank, redshank, wheatear, sandwich tern, oystercatcher, buzzard were seen, heard a robin singing and the wind in the rigging of the yachts moored mid channel. The tide had been coming in and it was by then on the turn. There was lichen on one of the wooden bridges, a big rabbit with its back to the wind sheltering near a hedge.
We returned through the private wood observing fungi, acorns on the path and an owl box. The sun came out more and one resident driving her car stopped to ask if we were lost since after emerging from the wood and crossing a field we had stopped to look at a hedge where our Leader had seen a brown hairstreak butterfly whilst doing his recce a few days before. However unfortunately this can’t be recorded and we were laughing whilst noting which bit of hedge the butterfly had been! A list of all the birds will be on irecord.
Many thanks to our Leader Robert Watson for a lovely morning’s walk.
Daphne Flach 
 

The harbour


On the boardwalk