BIRD NEWS:51

So, there we four were, wheelchairs parked behind us and all leaning over the stone wall peering down at these cuties swimming below us in the River Arun. Time for some close-ups of mom and the cygnets...

Back home, as the first week of June drew to its close, I took a familiar stance on the front door step armed with a cup of coffee. I often spend twenty minutes or so of my morning thus occupied, peering out over my front garden, noting the coming and going of the plants and birds. This particular time I spotted a wood pigeon pecking at something near the purple-seed tree.

A little later I spotted a goldfinch fly across the garden onto a tree, land briefly, then fly off again. Before my 15-20 minutes of sipping the hot black liquid was up, I had additionally observed a few starlings and jackdaws swoop down on something our neighbors across the road had just put out, a wood pigeon wandered along the path, peered in the gate at me and then walked by, and a sparrow landed on the hedge for a moment. Back to the swans and Arundel however...