BIRD NEWS:428

This is the final shot from my early August excursion to Arundel - depicting the pair of mute swans by the moat. Back home, little action is occurring - but we do have the sparrows and blue tits back on the feeder after a week or two's break. I caught one shot of the sparrows.

My next excursion was a trip to West Wittering with Liz. We strolled around an island-spit and then hiked to Itchenor before bird-watching and blackberrying on our way back. As at Arundel WWT, there were a few notice boards dotted about offering information. This is the first, showing a selection of the bird life one is likely to spot.

The second board had less birds depicted, but shows a map illustrating the island-spit we circled prior to taking our walk. Of the birds depicted on the various boards - and others seen - we spotted crow, multiple tern/seagull, wood pigeon, egret, sparrow, starling, oyster catcher and curlew - with a couple of unsure sightings thrown in. We walked from the P (car park) shown on the map to the arrow - and beyond on our trip.

On this third board/map, you can see the multiple inlets one can walk around - and our plan is to take the entire harbor as a project and walk the various sections on further excursions - our next planned trip being Itchenor to Birdham and back.

The penultimate board shows nighttime Itchenor wildlife to look for - and that barn owls are in the locality. We spotted what we assume to be badger holes on the island-spit - and bird poop on the board illustrates some daytime activity!

The little egret that we see on the final info board was one of the birds Liz first spotted on our trip. Today's final shot shows gulls with 3-4 curlew on the flats - or would do if you had seen the shot through binoculars rather than a camera!