Saturday - Littlehampton - warm, dry and sunny, se3 - An eventful weekend spent at our Kate and Tim`s place, mainly to attend an Oysterband gig at Bognor in the evening. However, Tim had won a river boat trip in their local pub charity auction, so the afternoon was spent cruising up the River Arun from Littlehampton to the town bridge at Arundel, a distance of around five mile each way, with Billy the Harbour Master at the helm. It was interesting to see the wildlife from the water rather than the river bank as we meandered our way up and back between the largely canalised water course for most of the route, with the occasional reed beds here and there where the bank had collapsed.
Billy`s boat
River Arun views
Harbour Seal
Spot the Peregrine!
As the tide flooded in many of the hundreds of gulls roosted on the river banks; mostly Herring and Black-headed Gulls with a sprinkling of Black-backs and Mediterranean Gulls. At least 10 Common Sandpipers were noted flitting over the water and feeding along the muddy margins, plus four 10 Turnstones, four Redshanks, 10 Little Egrets, two Grey Wagtails and two Kingfishers along the way.
We had good views of a Harbour Seal about two miles upstream, while a male Peregrine perched atop the old gas holder on the outskirts of Littlehampton. Billy was a mine of information throughout the afternoon and on the return trip we sailed through the tidal race where the Arun runs into the sea. A great craic in a flat-bottomed boat!
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