BIRD NEWS:531

I was still strolling along past Widewater Lagoon in the middle of October when i caught a gull with the egret in the above photo. I then spotted a pair of cormorants that were not diving for food, but at rest.

Well, maybe not so much at rest as sitting around actively preening!

I moved along a little further and went closer towards the water by entering the car park. This allowed me some better pictures of the pair of preeners. A gull snuck into one shot I took. I actually spotted 3 different types of seagull on this trip at the Lagoon.

Something smaller and with a bit of yellow on brown darted into this bush - but I didn't think I succeeded in capturing it til the second shot proved I had - it appears to be a warbler or reed bunting or...well, definitely NOT a sparrow!

BIRD NEWS:530

What better way to start a blog post than with a flock of pigeons - these fellas landed just past where I spotted the cormorant. They decided to stay and munch the grass after landing.

More mute swans - this time parent and child - were next in sight. Next up, an egret! There was far more variety than on my last trip to the lagoon!

Glancing back to the swans - I spotted a cormorant in the same view! Then with a small twist it was back to the egret!

The above shot shows how close they were. I had hoped to catch the diving cormorant in the same shot as the egret and duo of swans - but failed to do so.

Back home, and blue tits, great tits, and sparrows are still the major munchers on the seed pole. I am currently refilling the wild bird seed tube 2-3 times a day, adding a fat ball daily, and topping up peanuts every 2-3 days. In lesser muncheries, a pair of goldcrests nibbled a few nyjer seed...

BIRD NEWS:529

One last picture of the soggy sparrowhawk, now positively identified as such - and male. For my next excursion, I went solo walking from Worthing along the coast to Shoreham. My first photograph was of a bush of sparrows living in a former row boat.

I then found a crow that wanted to use the outdoor gym equipment, albeit to perch on rather than get fit. I approached Widewater Lagoon and spotted a pair of mute swans.

As I approached them, they approached me. Further along, a third swan was huffing about.

I walked a little further out of Lancing towards Shoreham and spotted a diving bird feeding below the surface - a cormorant!

Just in time for winter - HERE is a story about one particular robin.

BIRD NEWS:528

My final shot from the Arundel WWT trip was of this reed buntings nest - taken on the boat trip. My next trip was to Chichester - so regular readers will be expecting these guys in a few pictures - at the budgie aviary in Priory Park.

My first two pictures were of the budgies pecking about at what must have been recently added nesting material or food, both in a hanging tray and on the ground. I then focused on a couple of individuals that appeared to be as interested in me as I was in them.

This final shot from my trip is of a noisy lil fella who ducked out of sight when I raised the camera after previously chattering away crossly at me as if to say 'my turn, my turn!'

I was doing the washing up the day after my trip, when I glanced up and spotted a stranger bird sitting on the fence - assumedly a bedraggled sparrowhawk...

Finally - good news from yesterday, after the stormy gales swept through our county - HERE.