There's no bunting like Snow Bunting... No bunting at all

"How do you feel about Climping?" "I don't know, I've never climped". This exchange took place yesterday morning as my birding teacher and his wife came to pick me up for a birdwatching jaunt. Apparently both a Hoopoe and a Snow Bunting had been reported in Climping. These are both birds that I would be very interested in seeing, however that wasn't to be the case on this occasion.
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I was quite excited about the Hoopoe, an exotic-looking bird which should have been in Africa rather than a bleak and wind-swept stretch of wild English coast in Autumn.

I also noted from my little bird book that despite its looks it has a very bad reputation for hygiene and its nests are "notoriously smelly". Far from being ashamed of this, it apparently goes around asking "who poo?"

By comparison the Snow Bunting is a neater more refined little chap altogether. All of this was academic though as there was little life apparent there and certainly neither of the two target birds. Aside from the usual Magpies, crows and gulls we did spot Oystercatchers, Turnstones and Sanderlings however. As no-one else we met had encountered our prey that morning we decided to move on to where there was guaranteed to be a variety of birdlife: Pagham Harbour.

On arrival we discovered that the Pagham Spit car park was closed, apparently because of road damage though how this differed from the normal state of the road here which is pretty much a cart track is anyone's guess. This rather put paid to our lunch plans but we moved on to the "North Wall" and had our lunch on a bench overlooking the tidal water. It was a mild day with the sun gleaming on the water at what was still close to high tide and it was very pleasant indeed to eat drink and chat while an ever-changing panorama kept us entertained.

There were a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers in front of us and a number of other ducks and waders further into the distance. We also noticed the fins and tail of a large fish (mullet?) breaking the surface every now and then. Apparently he was of a size that need not fear the many beaks nearby and nothing short of an Osprey would have been able to ruin his day.

After lunch we moved on up the wall and saw Teal, Wigeon, Mallard, Snipe, Oystercatchers, Brent Geese, Curlew, Knot, Shoveler, Pintail, Redshank,Moorhen, Black-headed Gulls and Cormorants. We also had splendid close views of a hovering male  Kestrel.

A check on the sighting reports showed that someone had seen the elusive Hoopoe again since we were there and we decided to try again. This time we were confident that we were exactly where the sighting had been made but once again failed to spot him. Occasionally a movement in one of the trees would cause some excitement but it always turned out to be blackbird or robin.

Nevertheless it had been a very enjoyable day and I returned home to prepare for the arrival of the gamers well pleased with my day's birding.