BIRD NEWS:630

 

Anytime I spot a pigeon, out pops the camera...

Our next trip was to Nymans - a place Liz has been before, but that I have not. We found an ornamental bird depiction to start my bird-cameraing.

OOOh....was that a pigeon poking its head out of the bird-box?

No.... Another artificial bird - a fake pigeon - peeped out of the dove cot.

Carved wooden owls - well, there were plenty of fake birds, and lots of sounds of real ones, but...when would my camera find a real one? It missed the green woodpecker that flew thru the woodland on our post-garden walk. But then we toured the larger woodland area and...

A whole pile of ducks sunning themselves, oblivious to us and a gentleman we stopped to have a conversation with.

However, soon afterwards, an off-leash dog shot up barking and scattered them all from their peaceful doze. The ducks did not fear humans, but they did not feel serene or safe with the racing dog.

Another piece of artwork finishes today's post - a kingfisher depicted in wood.

BIRD NEWS:629

 

In the past, on my old Fujifilm camera, I would have taken a few snaps and been able to ID the bird once at home - but this stupid Kodak doesnt take good photos, so I still do not know what reed dwelling bird we saw.

This seemed to be the best shot I got...and it might be possible to identify the bird had it not been turned at such an angle. But then luck hit home - my final shot showed the bird much more clearly - a sedge warbler!!

You can learn more about them HERE.

My next aim was to get a shot of a sand marten in/on its rock entry.

I kept trying, but....this was the best shot I got of them. We left the WWT reserve, and wandered back into Arundel to do a treasure trail after lunch. On our way back, we spotted a mute swan with teenage cygnets in the moat.

so out came my camera again!

The cygnets kept sticking their legs up...which we found both cute and amusing.

BIRD NEWS:628

 

We went into the woodland hide and found a feederful! There were blue tits, great tits, greenfinches, chaffinches, bulfinches, and goldfinches! I did not get them all in my photos though.

We were not quite sure who was hanging out with the gulls...a wader of some kind.

It might have been a young gull - BUT it had the wrong legs for that.

Or so we thought - but from my photos it might have been a young gull after all, rather than an oyster catcher, greenshank, redshank....or perhaps....

...a young lapwing?

Liz spotted something in the reeds... We were in the sandmartin hide - but this was not a sandmartin.

We wondered what kind of warbler it might be...if it was one.

BIRD NEWS:627

 

Here you can see one of the avocet waders along with a redshank and info board. Next up, another group of dozing ducks - a familiar summer sight.

Sadly, I only spotted one pigeon...

Usually there are a whole flock flying around. Whether they have been forcefully removed, or whether they have gone to a better food source such as Swanbourne Lake, I don't know.

Next up, we encountered a teenage moorhen wandering about.

Unexpectedly, I came across my old pals the Trumpeter swans. They are now housed in their new home-pond. It is a bit smaller than their old lake with the tree filled island, but they ere gliding about serenely.

It was lovely to see them - especially as I did not see my friends Orangetag and Silvertag the Bewick duo on this trip. When we failed to find them, we made enquiries and discovered they were in the duckery/sickie cages due to having cygnets. This was not expected for another year or two, but on our next trip we should find them again.

For now, I will have to make do with trumpeters!

Ahead of us was another visitor - but also a mallard family.

BIRD NEWS:626

 

Mommy and bubster moorhen were enjoying the next pond we wandered past. There was no sign of activity in the kingfisher hide though - so I took a shot of the wall where they are supposed to nest.

We wandered along the reserve extention and found cormorants out in the big lake.

We then found a tern nest on a floating station.

Most of my photos from this excursion contained flora and water rather than birds. Liz and I seem to do a trip every week now, and the next one was to Arundel WWT.

The dalmation pelicans have decreased due to the males dying - leaving 4 females. They looked fine - but I do wonder why the other two passed away and wonder if they will stay and have a new boy pelican sent along at a future date.

Next up, we spotted a mommy and babe canada goose.

Among the birds in the aviary just past the pelicans are 4 avocet.

BIRD NEWS:625

 

Chichester! There was the budgy aviary by the cafe in the park. Alas, my camera let me down and most of my shots were unclear.

I did not take too many pictures as I have so often taken shots of these birds - and with a better camera.

Our next excursion was to Ardingly Resevoir, where we tried to take a circular walk - but failed to follow the directives or map correctly. On arrival home, I discovered we had been trying to do a walk around Arlington Resevoir instead - so that would explain why stage 1 could not connect to stages 2-9. However, I took a few shots as we hiked about enjoying what we found instead of the planned walk.

We did spot a family of Grebes - only identifiable thru noccies - of approximately a dozen birds.

Back home, and this misshot was supposed to illustrate the adult bluetit feeding 2 great tit babes...

This behavior has been known in cousin tit species, where a substitute parent adopts the young of a dead or absent parent.

Our next excursion was to Wakehurst Place - where we met a pair of mallards whom were curious. We also spotted a pheasant out for a summer field stroll.

BIRD NEWS:624

 

Was it a waterail? Was it a coot?

Just a young teenage coot!

Before we left Warnham, we stopped for a coffee. We were being spied upon by bird-eye as we nattered and sipped!

A wood pigeon was munching grass and tree seed, and kept popping up behind the foliage.

Before we drove homeward, we strolled along to the mill. At the weir, we spotted a flutter...that landed. A grey wagtail.

...and some ducks.

The wagtail flew into one of the holes...to feed its young! It kept flying in with food and poking it into its offsprings' mouths then flying off for more...well, they did - for there were two of them. Alas, my attempts to get a shot of that failed.

Regular readers might know where our next trip is by this last shot.