BIRD NEWS:489

One last shot of the pied wagtail, before I trekked for a full anticlockwise circle of the reserve. Firstly, I spotted some eider.

I then passed a blackbird - obviously gathering food for its young.

A napping mallard and nesting seagull were the next birds to attract the attention of my little pink box.

Finally for today's post - the pair of blacknecked swans were hanging out in the corner of their lake-enclosure

BIRD NEWS:488

It was lovely to see the new pair in the Bewick enclosure - I had missed the old quartet of youngsters and the parents. According to the lady feeding them, they had only been there since Thursday evening - and it was now Saturday morning - so I was in an advantageous position to get them used to me and stood by their enclosure for some time, allowing them to observe me.

I eventually trotted along to the Trumpeter swan area before turning towards the cafe to warm up with a hot drink, as there was a chilly wind. The trumpeters had only just been fed...

As I sat in the cafe looking through the window at the cafeside lake, I spotted this lil fellow also attending to its belly. I THINK it must be a pied wagtail.

BIRD NEWS:487

You may be mistakenly assuming I am now sharing shots from a farm - wrong! These pictures were also taken on my late April trip to Leonardslee Gardens with Liz. My next shot changes to the first solo trip I took in May 2019, to Arundel Wildfowl Trust on the first Saturday of the month. A greylag goose with family.

I had not wandered much further along the pathway when I came across a second goose family, strolling along warily watching my approach.

I spent approximately 2 hours at the WWT on this trip, which included a hot drink shortly after arrival, but before the drink I encountered a few more waterfowl - including these scoters.

To my delight, on approaching the Bewick Swan enclosure I spotted activity! YES! There were now a pair of Bewicks at their lake again.

BIRD NEWS:486

My first photograph for today depicts a pair of goldfinches munching brunch on the bird feeder pole. One is eating nyjer seed whilst the other tucks into the sunflower hearts. My next shot shows teal and a farm duck on the pond I walk past when taking a stroll down Swillage Lane, a local track leading to the woodland in the locality in which I dwell.

On my way home after my hike, I spotted some show pigeons or doves on the rooftop at Norfolk House - one of the posh estate homes on Swillage Lane. The next shot is a treecreeper - but I cannot actually find it to give you a close up as although I know it was there when I took the photograph, I haven't yet found where it is when sorting thru my pictures at home afterwards.

The next photo is from the same excursion - to Leonardslee gardens with my best friend Liz, taken late April 2019. It shows a family of ducks on one of the multiple lakes and ponds in the base of the gardens. Plenty of woodpecker activity by the looks of this tree!

A greylag goose enjoys this pond, further along. Finally for today - another group of ducks on yet another pond at the gardens.

BIRD NEWS:485

Here is another shot of the greenfinch munching sunflower hearts alongside a goldfinch at Arundel WWT. Along a bit from the woodland hide, I came across an island of pigeons to make me smile.

This is the same lake as the blacknecked swans were dwelling upon on my current trip, taken the first weekend in April. As the trumpeters, the black necks were preening themselves, busily.

Near the cafe the eiders were swimming around hopeful of feed, along with the greedy gulls and assorted ducks. Time for me to take refreshments, then double back and go anti-clockwise round the reserve before making my way home via Bognor shops.

Dozing among the daisies on my second lap I spotted a couple of geese that took my camera's fancy. Here is the info board depicting the difference between these geese and the emperor geese shown in a former post.

BIRD NEWS:484

I went into the woodland hide and wondered what would be scooping up the crumbs and dropped seeds this trip. Sometimes its the mallards, a water rail, dunnocks, coot or moorhen, even a pheasant or goose - but on this occasion it was a mandarin duck and a group of baby rats. There was also a coot though.

There seemed to be a mommy rat that dashed in and out, with a large pack of baby rats - numbering around a dozen in two groups. I also spotted a reed bunting, who briefly popped by to munch a few seed before disappearing again.

Soon afterwards, I spotted a female chaffinch and mallard approach the rats. The mallard snapped at them to shoo them away, but they didn't stay away for long and snuck back again.

Who is this sharing the seed with a goldfinch? I took a couple of pictures to make sure re the identification - but was right first guess - a greenfinch.

I have included an ID board for you, so you don't need to look up the species of duck pictured with the rats.

BIRD NEWS:483

The Trumpeter swan that was bathing made some interesting poses and I ended up taking several pictures of it - along with THIS VIDEO. I popped into another hide, and as I exited spotted the pair both on land - still preening and cleaning.

They seemed to be taking a long time making themselves look good for my camera!

Having finally passed the trumpeters pretty display, I trotted along and the next thing to catch my eye was a moorhen bringing a strand of grass to this patch - which if you look closely you might see is another moorhen sitting on a nest.

My final photo for today is of a bluetit in a tree. It was hanging with a longtailed tit, but by the time I had clicked on and aimed the camera, the longtailed tit had flown onwards and the bluetit flew into shot.