Chichester Harbour AONB

The Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on Emsworth's doorstep

Chichester Harbour, designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1964, is the defining landscape feature of the Emsworth area. The harbour covers approximately twenty-seven square miles of tidal waters, mudflats, saltmarshes, and low-lying shores, stretching from Emsworth in the north-east to the harbour mouth between Hayling Island and West Wittering in the south.

The AONB designation recognises the harbour's landscape quality, its wildlife significance, and its heritage value. The Chichester Harbour Conservancy manages the area, balancing the needs of recreational users, nature conservation, local communities, and the commercial interests that depend on the harbour.

For Emsworth, the harbour is the town's southern boundary and its most valued natural asset. The harbour shore, visible from the Quay, from Slipper Mill Pond, and from the paths that ring the inlet, provides the town's visual identity. The tidal rhythms, twice filling and emptying every day, are the natural heartbeat of the place.

The harbour is internationally important for its bird populations. It is designated as a Special Protection Area and a Ramsar site, reflecting its significance for overwintering waders and wildfowl. The populations of brent geese, dunlin, and other species depend on the harbour's mudflats for feeding.

Recreational sailing is a major activity in the harbour, and Emsworth Sailing Club is one of several clubs that use the harbour waters. The harbour channels provide sheltered sailing, and the harbour mouth gives access to the open waters of the Solent.

The AONB footpath network provides extensive walking opportunities along the harbour shore, and the paths around Emsworth's harbour inlet form part of this wider network. The Conservancy maintains the paths, provides waymarking, and publishes walking guides.

For Emsworth residents, the AONB is not an abstract designation. It is the view from the Quay, the walk around the harbour, the birds on the mud, and the quality of light that draws artists and photographers. It is the reason many people chose to live here.