4000 trees to be planted in Chidham by the Chichester Harbour Conservancy over the winter.

This coming Sunday, 19th November, is Chichester Harbour Conservancy's third Joan Edom Bird Walk. Joan Edom was my mother-in-law and as far as mothers-in law go she was the absolute best!

Joan was a very educated and knowledgeable person. She was also very private and content with the company of family and close friends. In the middle years of her life she took up birdwatching and became great friends with Joan Spurgin, best known as the writer ‘Meon Minnow' in the Hampshire Chronicle. Through all the years that I knew her (and it was a great many!) she spent many hours of her time counting the wildfowl and waders of Chichester Harbou . I particularly remember her ‘guarding' the Little Terns that were nesting on North Stakes Island. The little hut that she used to shelter in is still on Cobnor Point. In fact, her Grandson Daniel thought she actually kept her beloved birds inside it.

	Chichester Harbour Conservancy was formed in the 1970's. In 1976 it bought Nutbourne Marshes and it was designated a Local Nature Reserve. The Conservancy was very limited in its staff in those days and so Joan volunteered to warden the Reserve, which she did until 1987. In 1977 she started to lead regular Sunday morning birdwatching walks along the Nutbourne Marshes shoreline.
North Stakes Island where the Little Terns used to nest.

These walks continued until her retirement and were then lead by Anne de Potier, the Conservancy's Conservation Officer and another very good friend of Joan's.
The walks eventually became part of the Conservancy's official Activities Programme, and commemorated now by the annual bird walk mentioned above.

Joan made a massive contribution to the collective knowledge of the Harbour with her ongoing data collection (still being referred to today) and also in creating a small nature reserve on her own land that would enhance the Harbour environment. In 1987 she was awarded the Freedom of the Harbour for her contribution, and this was richly deserved.

One of my first lovely memories of Joan when I stayed at Cobnor Cottage as a teenager was of early mornings on a rainy day. She had built a new pond and in order to get as much water into it as possible, she would go out onto the Cobnor Drive with a stick and direct the rivulets of rainwater into the ditch that flowed into the pond. She called this ‘pogging'! Last year, the pond was restructured for the third time in its history. A new domestic sewage reedbed system has been constructed and the water from this discharges into the pond. History sometimes repeats itself - I found myself cutting up bits of hosepipe so that I could also redirect the rainwater - off the roof, through the waterbutt and into this very same pond…

The Joan Edom Bird Walk takes place this Sunday, 19th November at 10.30am. It lasts for 2 hours and the meeting place for the walk is by the footpath next to the gate in Farm Lane, Nutbourne (off the A259).

There was a good turn out of volunteers for "Beach Watch" on a  Saturday morning in September, along the Cobnor and West Chidham harbour edge.  It was run by the Conservancy and involves a major clear-up of litter round the harbour edge, plus an analysis of every single little bit, for research and monitoring purposes. 

The kids loved using the nifty pick-up sticks that Nicky, AONB officer, handed out!  Many black binbags were filled by the gang of locals and "Friends of Chichester Harbour" in the baking heat of September.  Kate's best find was a balloon from a balloon race in the Isle of Wight, so she has posted the card back and hopes to get a prize!
What a difference it makes to have such a clean and wilder-looking coast-line again! 

When you're out walking around the village here, try to pick up even 1 or 2 of the most obtrusive pieces of ltter - it's satisfying and such a positive thing to do.

Volunteers - Litter Blitz - Sunday April 23