BIRD NEWS:679

 

Gadwell and shovellers in abundance....but no glossy ibis! We gave up for the time being, and leaving the hide Liz spotted a water rail!

A rare sighting for some, we are used to spotting them most winters at WWT Arundel now.

 

In the above shot, you can see the comparative size of a water rail, as there is a coot foraging behind it....

Next, we came upon the Bewick family. Orangetag, Silvertag, and their trio of teenage Bewicks....peacefully preening, swimming, and hanging out.

You can spot Arundel Castle in the background, but I prefer to observe living Bewick than dead brick, myself!

Liz and I left the WW reserve and walked beyond the Black Rabbit pub & restaurant along the road and track towards South Stoke. She had previously located a track she wanted to explore another day - and today was that day. I spotted a dovecote to begin with! Alas, not a dove or show pigeon in sight, but....

My next shot shows where we were walking....attempting to take the circular track back into Arundel via Whiteways Lodge, we decided. We actually almost made the intended track - but finding a road - not sure if we should stick to the small grassland stretch beside it or cross, we turned back - picniced up a side track below the chalk mine cliff, and snuck thru Arundel Park to cut out walk a little short.

We did spot an amazing sighting of a red kite during this stretch of our trip - but it was not camerable on THIS camera of mine beyond a smudge in the sky, so I just watched thru bins...

We walked back thru the land in the park near the Bury Hill track that leads to Swanbourne Lake - where we stopped briefly to take a few shots of the seagulls all over the lake.