BIRD NEWS:444

Starting today's post - here they are - the budgies from Priory Park! That ends that excursion, but it was not long before my next trip. I took the early bus and sauntered along the avenue enjoying the autumnal colors and falling leaves and spotting a pigeon hanging out on the side, as I made my way to wellness-weekend at WWT, Arundel.

The first birds I photographed on my first rushed trip round were a pair of mallards. My trip to Arundel WWT also included several sightings that I did not photograph - a kestrel, 2 buzzards, 5 kingfishers, and a red kite...

My next stop was to catch up with the Bewick swans - does anybody notice something wrong in the photos? Perhaps regular readers may recall that the two parents had 4 cygnets earlier this year - and notice one parent and 4 cygnets in my photos...? I haven't a clue where the other parent went, but it was not in the enclosure! Maybe it was sick, dead, or hiding...

This pair of Emperor geese wanted to chew the fence as I strolled by. I next caught up with my old pals the trumpeter swans! I did not take too long on this ramble round, as I had a Yoga class, coffee, and Chair Yoga class to attend, before a smaller walk and Zero-Balancing session. My trip then ended in a slower ramble round and boat trip. But firstly to the Trumpeter swans.....

BIRD NEWS:443

Back home, and you can see the goldfinch has found the new location for the nyjer seed tube! Talking of which, the stone bird bath is also relocated - I got fed up of walking between it and the overgrown fern and getting wet legs every time I went to the poly tunnel in morning dew!

Here is the view from the coffee room window - and below that from the kitchen window of the new set up. Hopefully it will also now be easier for birds to spot black furball murder-monsters on the prowl!

Can anybody guess where this shot of a wood pigeon and crow was taken? Probably not unless you are a regular reader or local - it was Hotham Park in Bognor Regis. Late October, I had a Liz-less day and a quest to purchase a blueberry plant, so decided to trek out to Chichester markets for the plant, where I had purchased one for just £4 a year or two previously. I stopped en route for a quick trot round the park in Bognor.

I then went on to Chichester - and here we see a wood pigeon resting on a bench in the Bishops Gardens. I then trotted off post coffee to Priory Park...

You are right regular readers - this is not a shot of the aviary of budgies! I spotted a wagtail on the bowling greens first...budgies to come!

BIRD NEWS:442

My first shot from Warnham Nature reserve is of one of the cormorants on the lake. We saw 5 in total and for most of the time I had the binoculars trained on them, although there were a couple of geese and swans as well. The swans came out in this photo along with the ever present gulls.

In fact, the cormorants were the main subject in my photographs, as the noccies did the work at most hides. I SAW - without photographing - a kingfisher, nuthatch, blue tit, marsh tit, jay, dunnock, robin, sparrow, great tit, long tailed tit, grebes...

... and goldfinches, pheasant, wood pigeon - that last trio managed to get into just one shot! Alas, that is mostly all that did get caught on camera this trip - as most of the time I was to busy chatting away to Liz, observing the woodland sights such as fungi and trees, and using the bins when spotting birds. We did come across a very amazing tree trunk though.

At first glance it may look like JUST a tree trunk....but if you work your way from base to sky, you will find much evidence of life. Part way up, Liz spotted a hornet buzzing - and on binocular-observation we found a hornet nest in the trunk...

Midway up was a hole - Liz told me that it had been a woodpecker nest on one excursion she had previously made here. Nearer the top was some fungi....

Not bad for a single tree!

BIRD NEWS:441

One more shot of the sparrows at home - demonstrating how they munch thru a canister of seed per day, currently. One more shot from our trip to Petworth Park ...

My next excursion was a solo stroll along the canal at Chichester - where this coot thought I might favor it with the food I didn't have. It saw me stop and swam over, looking up saying 'feed me' with its eyes...but I didn't bring a picnic, only a bottle of water.

Of course, Chichester means budgies in the aviary at Priory Park as well... I grabbed a coffee instead of lunch and wandered along to the park and around it for a short trip before the gardens and home after the canal and shoe shopping.

That was Chichester... My next photo is from closer to home. On the penultimate Saturday of October, I took a stroll down Swillage Lane - originally intending to trot around Angmering park for a couple of hours - but the mood was not with me and I just took an hours stroll instead. I had hoped to capture a few photos of the geese and ducks on Swillage Pond - but they didn't want to be photographed this trip.

My next excursion was taken with Liz to Warnham nature reserve. We saw plenty of birds, along with squirrels galore, in the lakes and woodlands where we lost almost 4 hours wandering around spotting wildlife before ending up back at the cafe-shop and watching the harvest mice and stick insects for a while. Photos from our trip will appear in my next blog post.

BIRD NEWS:440

A shot of the sparrows enjoying the new feeder pole set up, before my next trip. At Pulborough, we saw a stonechat, pigeons, sparrows - but did not get photos, so the next shots come from a hiking trip to Arundel Liz & I took on the next day. The first two show the pheasants - being reared ready to be shot.

The last two from this trip are when we spotted a kestrel hovering above a sheep field then diving down for lunch. They came out better than I expected!

The next day we were off out again, enjoying the late summer weather in early fall. This trip took us to Petworth Park, and after coffee we hiked round the lakes then perimeter - and at the first lake we spotted some waterfowl. In the first picture you can see Canada Geese, Mute Swans and a seagull.

My next shot shows a greylag goose, Canada geese and mallards - another enjoyable sunny day.