BIRD NEWS:50

Continuing the saga of the wheelchair gang's Arundel excursion, here came mommy swan and 7 cygnets, swimming across the River Arun towards us. Yes, here they came, heading directly for our spot, while the gull looked on from above they swam up below.

By now, the two wheelchair riders had climbed from their chairs to get a better view of the approaching swans that we two wheelchair-pushers were halting the trip to admire. Luckily, all four of us like wildlife and birds, so it was not really too much of a problem for me to call for this camera-halt in the midst of our excursion. It seemed that the swans were going to come right up to us - or at least the river below the wall we four now stood at, looking down from.

Dropping my guilt for prolonging the wait for coffee due to the evident interest of all concerned, we watched with interest - as did a gull - as Mommy swan and all seven youngsters swum up to the wall. Someone not in our group was also watching and I think they had some food - though I was rather occupied with my little pink metal box and checking that we were still observing swans and not yet heading coffeewards.