Pagham Harbour Local Nature Reserve

⚠  Visitor Centre accessible. However due to flood damage, the 30 minute loop is currently not wheelchair friendly ⚠ 

This sheltered inlet is an internationally important wetland site for wildlife, featuring saltmarsh and mudflats, lagoons, reedbeds, farmland and shingle beach. Follow our trails around the reserve, venturing past the old Sidlesham tramway, along the pebbly beach, and even to our neighbouring reserve, Medmerry.

One of the highlights of summer at Pagham is our tern colony on Tern Island. Take a seat at Church Norton and look out across the harbour to the flurry of activity over the island. The sound of chattering terns drifts across the languid waters mingled with the harsher squawks of the Black-headed Gulls. Common, Sandwich and Little Terns all nest on the island and it is a delight to watch these elegant seabirds fishing in the harbour, hovering briefly before diving into the water for small fish.

If you stand on Pagham Harbour's North Wall at dusk on a winter's evening, you may be lucky enough to experience a true winter wildlife spectacle as hundreds of Dark-bellied Brent Geese and Wigeon pass overhead to graze in the fields north of the reserve. The sound of beating wings can be heard over their honks and whistles, as their sheer numbers add to the darkening gloom.