Wednesday 23^rd April 2009

Last night I decided that I was going to spend a good portion of today out, I was originally going to a place alongside the river Test but John showed me a picture of a really nice village scene on the front page of Peoples Friend it’s just over the border in West Sussex so I made plans to go there instead.

The place is called Climping near Arundel and Littlehampton so if I couldn’t find the actual scene then I would have a choice of somewhere else. I found Climping alright but not the lovely babbling brook with quaint bridge and cottages alongside so I went to Littlehampton and parked up close to the rather large sand dunes with the entrance of the harbour just a stones throw away. Collecting my camera and water I set off at a leisurely pace over the dunes.

Most of these have been fenced off as they are not only eroding away but are of special scientific interest and a nature reserve. That soon became apparent as I could hear and see the Skylark flying up while singing away and then swooping down out of the sky. That is the first time I have witnessed this and I was totally mesmerised, for the most part they were too far away to photograph but it didn’t stop me trying.

(Just a note to say there is some confusion as to whether I witnessed a Skylark or Meadow Pipit, both of them look similar and perform roughly the same singing routine).

Towards the end of the dunes lay the beach with the gentle rolling of the waves being interrupted by the sounds of an occasional golf ball being whacked on the nearby course, very surreal! As with all the beaches along this stretch of coast it is mainly large pebbles but it’s a lovely place either way. Eventually I became tired and decided to sit down on a small dune and grass, ouch I hadn’t taken into account how prickly that grass was, but I needed the rest while watching the Skylarks perform.

Looking at the time, it was midday, no wonder I was feeling peckish but it would be a hard slog climbing up and over the dunes to get back. Opening the car door was just like opening an oven so I set the air conditioning on before the sandwich went too limp. Feeling better it was time to move on and check out Climping again. Ending up in a small lane I stopped to try and photograph the first Swallow I had seen this year, noticing they were coming from over one particular area I walked alongside a big house with a large 8ft + wall round it.

Directly in front a Swallow was resting on the telephone line, so quietly and slowly I crept forward, raised the camera and that’s when I heard a long growl from a dog somewhere. I froze and then carefully looked around to work out it was coming from the other side of the wall. Feeling a bit better and realising that dogs could not jump the high wall I tried to take another shot...

In my peripheral vision the sight of what looked like two large Rhodesian ridge back dogs with teeth showing from over the top of the wall was enough for me to turn around and run, yes run back to the safety of the car! I certainly won’t tell you the expletives that came from me as I locked the car door and sat there shaking like a leaf. Those dogs must have had some sort of ramp to climb up on; very scary I can assure you.

Needless to say as soon as I had recovered I went home a lot quicker than when I had set off this morning