BIRD NEWS: 920

 

Our next trip took us to Shoreham. We wandered along the River Adur, in the cold damp gloomy wintery weather. Two swans cheered us up a little bit.

You can see Shoreham airport behind, on the other bank.

We ended up seeing quite a few birds - including robin and blackbirds, of course. We saw redshank, egret, cormorant....but I did not capture too many photos as the weather was so grey and gloomy.

Later on, we spotted lapwing and a bird I did not ID with surety - possibly a curlew, definitely a wader. I failed to take any more pictures on this trip though.

So, have another couple of shots of Naboo from when he guested at mine.

HERE is an article concerning birdlists.

and here is my birdlist for 2024.

BIRD LIST 2024

AVOCET

BLACKBIRD

BLUE TIT

BEWICK SWAN

BLACKHEADED GULL

BUZZARD

COLLARED DOVE

CROW

CANADA GOOSE

CITY PIGEON

CHAFFINCH

COOT

CORMORANT

CURLEW

FIELDFARE

GREENFINCH

GOLDFINCH

GREAT TIT

GREY HERON

GREATER EGRET

GRAY WAGTAIL

GOLDEN PLOVER

HERRING GULL

HARLEQUIN DUCK

JACKDAW

JAY

KESTREL

LONGTAILED DUCK

LAPWING

LITTLE EGRET

LINNET

MAGPIE

MALLARD

MUTE SWAN

MOORHEN

NUTHATCH

PIED WAGTAIL

PELICAN

PINTAIL DUCK

PEREGRINE FALCON

POCHARD

ROBIN

RED KITE

REDSHANK

RED BREASTED GOOSE

RADJAH BLACKBACKED SHELDUCK

REED BUNTING

RED POLL

SPARROW

SHOVELER

SCALYSIDED MERGANZER

SHELDUCK

STARLING

SHOW PIGEON

SONG THRUSH

SPECTACLED EIDER

SCOTER

SNIPE

SISKIN

TUFTED DUCK

TRUMPETER SWAN

TREECREEPER

TEAL

WOOD PIGEON

WREN

WIGEON

BIRD NEWS: 919

 

Here is our view of the brooks at Pulborough Brooks. Thankfully we had a scope, without which you couldn't really see many of the birds.

Even with bins it was hard to see which blobs were which bird. We managed by scope to ID several though - including pintailed duck, gadwell, teal, shoveller, wigeon, pochard, and of course mallard.

There was a heron to the right of the gate like structure, but without the scope we could not see it well.

This ID board shows many of the birds we saw.

Liz wanted a second coffee, so we got to sit in the gardens and I spotted a show pigeon on the roof. They used to have at least a dozen, but this was the only one we spotted on this trip.

That brought us to the end of that day trip.

As there are still 3-4 Naboo pics to share, here is one to end today's post.

BIRD NEWS: 918

 

A nuthatch flew down to join the blue and great tits. Then a robin joined them.

Back came the nuthatch - this time sharing the pond surround wall with a squirrel.

Then some sparrows joined the squirrel.

A coal tit and 2 bluetits in this picture to our left.

They were busy, holding to stems to make sure it was safe then hopping to the ground to grab a seed.

There is the coal tit waiting its chance....but it kept stem flitting and never actually went down on thr ground.

The poor blue tit and great tits did not get much chance for a while as squrirrels abounded. At one point 3-4 suqirrels ran round the pond wall chasing each other til one fell off.

BIRD NEWS: 917

 

I will start today with the last two posts from WWT Arundel. The info board tells you what is in the second picture!!

That leaves me with a half dozen or so Naboo pictures - so I will share another one with you.

Next up, some pictures from our excursion to RSPB Pulborought Brooks taken in December 2024. We start with an info-board.

Then move on to the garden-pond area, which was full of birds. Alas, I did not seem to be able to get the zoom feature to work, so did not see them very clearly. Squirrels abounded, and other birds joined in to munch seeds.

This is either a blue tit or great tit...as there were plenty of both.

To our left was an area with multiple birdlife, also.

Here is the robin we spotted.

BIRD NEWS: 916

 

We are still at Arundel WWT - in the next hide, we saw cormorants on the island and over to the right.....snipe!

It is very difficult to spot the snipe if you don't see them move. I managed to count 9, but you might only see one or two - JUST!

I managed to catch the cormorant swimming.

There was a second cormorant flying...

Back to the island and snipe and....now some cormorants in the tree.

I tried so hard to catch the snipe...but even on zoom they didn't show very well.

I tried, but....

BIRD NEWS: 915

 

We will start today with yet another picture or Mrs Silvertag Bewick. Then jump into a mini video.

I was trying to capture the sound Mr Bewick was making - but didn't manage to catch it on video.

I tried again.

Once again, no sound.

Let us take a Naboo break!

Back to the Bewicks. Mr Bewick watches as Mrs Bewick hides behind the ID board.

Finally, Mr Bewick above and Mrs Bewick below.

BIRD NEWS: 914

 

We moved along to the Trumpeter swan enclosure. They have given them a nesting box.

We went to see if they had hung the feeders in the woodland hide again yet - but no, still down. We did spot a seasonal fellow though - this robin redbreast decided to watch us as we watched him.

Then we came to the Bewicks!!

These are my favorite swans, so naturally I took rather too many pictures of them.

Mrs Silvertag Bewick is on the right in this picture.

And Mr Silvertag Bewick on the left.

Finally....for today at least, Mrs SB.