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My next stop on the Easter Saturday Arundel trip looked out over an island with a pair of shelducks resting upon it. I was almost sure of identification, as I had seen shelducks just the week before when visiting Pulbourough Brooks with Liz and John - but I did double check the ID board to make sure I was right - which I was.

I next wandered past the Trumpeter swans enclosure. I wonder if they will make a nest and have another brood of young this year? Their juveniles vanished between my last two trips - whether they were set free, taken to another reserve, or released in the wild, I have yet to learn.

Despite the ducks and staff only notice, the swans and geese were quite at home in the field by the lake, munching grass for lunch. When Liz recently asked me if I was planning to renew my annual membership (that she had gifted to me for my 50th birthday in 2016), it was the swans that made me agree that it was likely I would do so. I was planning to join for one year every 2-3 years and take breaks - but the swans are like a TV soapie - and I can't wait for the next installment - of natural reality!

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the gosling and the mallard do not seem to know what to make of one another!! Well, The Bewick Swans were gobbling grub below water when I first got around to their new enclosure - the other side of the path to their former pen.

It popped out soon after - but turned away! I did manage to get a couple of better shots of their faces however, before leaving them to stroll onwards - one actually swam up near to me as I was about to leave..

I walked along passing the wildlife garden, where the now familiar goldfinches habitat lies. I took just a couple of shots - as we sometimes have these in our own yard, although not as often as they used to come since the council axed next doors holly tree.

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Rook or carrion crow, they liked nuts. This made them more likely to be crow than rook, unlike their congregation and nests, which made them more likely to be rook than crow.

You would think with so many pictures, I might have been able to tell - but...this book stated this, and that book stated that. Whatever I read or viewed seemed to lead to one or other - but it evened out to 50-50. They remain a mystery - feathered thighs, flat foreheads, baggy feathered bellies, ARGHHHH! maybe I should just call them crooks!!

Well, here you can see I left Bognor and moved on to Arundel - familiar territory. I spotted mute swans somewhere in the complex, but did not photograph them - preferring to focus on the Bewick and Trumpeter species while the black-necked swans were in hiding.

But first there was a nest of goslings with parent birds hanging about guardfully. Not sure if they were more concerned about me staring at them from the pathway or the ducks that had decided to wander nearby, though.

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I wandered around a bit searching for the squirrels that Liz had said she had seen when she visited. She had forewarned me to arm myself with peanuts - but I only spotted one distant squirrel all trip on the day I chose to attend. I did spot a solitary rat diving into some undergrowth, which made me happy - as its nice to know they have somewhere bait-free to live. That song thrush was now taking a bath in a waterfall enclosure near a dozing duck.

I decided to give up when I could not spot the squirrels and toss my peanuts out on the lawn. Perhaps those crow-rook birds might like them - or the thrush after its bath - or even the rat if nobody else wanted my squirrel offering.

There was what I assumed was a sleeping bird spotted when I went back to the lawns - but it turned out it might have actually been injured. Shortly after I took the photo, a pair came down and started poking at it as if to wake it up - but it objected, took a few steps and settled down again. Injured or dying, it did not want to be bothered.

Soon the birds had observed me throwing something on the grass - and came to investigate. They obviously knew what peanuts were as several disappeared from my first handful thrown down. It was not long before they clustered about waiting for the next toss of nuts. These birds enjoyed them as much as wood pigeons do!

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The thrush was soon busy searching for grubs and bugs in the lawns while I sipped my coffee and clicked away. Hotham Park has a large colony of the big black birds - which in some of my pictures appear to be rooks but in other crows. They were in the background as the songthrush worked the lawn for food.

I was trying to work out whether it was rooks or crows, still...the fact that they were in a large group is more prevalent in rooks, but not all crows isolate themselves. Again, while rooks often have groups of nests in trees, crows may also do this. Meanwhile, the thrush had found a worm for lunch.

I took some close up shots of the big black birds - that were not jackdaws or ravens...

Despite some really good close up pictures, I didn't get a 'final decision' made on whether they were rooks or carrion crows though. Apparently, young rooks don't have the white patch on their beaks - and these guys looked like they might get white patches - but... I will side with crows....for now.

BIRD NEWS:326 and info.

Regular readers may realize that this is not one of my usual haunts - the back or front yard, Arundel, or Chichester, Brighton, Shoreham, Lancing, Worthing... but no, it was not another excursion with Liz and John. This was a solo trip on the 700 to Bognor Regis.

Over Easter, I had some vacant time and decided to whoosh off on the bus and explore Hotham Park. I had not been there since childhood, when I recall a Mickey Mouse and a Humpty Dumpty statue had their pictures taken with me. Now, it is more of a garden park and I spent a little over an hour there on Easter Saturday.

These nests were of a group of large black birds - oh no, not those again, regular readers may groan. Well, thanks to Liz I have ruled out ravens and I already know they are not jackdaws....which left the possibility of rooks or crows. Here is a sample shot of one...

Whilst locating a place to sit to sip my coffee, I spotted a song thrush hunting the lawns so went closer and sat nearby. It didn't seem that bothered by me, although at home, Plateface generally only appears in cold winters and hides away the rest of the year. This was spring, though...

CLICK HERE for information on the swift.

CLICK HERE for an EVENT now on - Nightingales....

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You can see the pair of magpies that often visit the yard in the mornings. The smaller birds are not appreciative, of course, but they make their noises in the tall dead trees at the far rear of the yard, nonetheless. I finally managed to get a better shot of the bluetit at the nesting box. After several blue and great tits had investigated, it was bluetits that actually moved in. As I write the blog, they have just fledged and left.

The bird bath is quite popular now we have had a burst of spring warmth. Here you can see the magpie taking a sip - and here is Pidge, sitting in the cool water to prevent overheating on a very warm morning.

My friend Liz had a blackbird nesting in the camellia bush RIGHT in front of her kitchen window - and we were all waiting, hopefully...but alas, the eggs never hatched, and after around 3 weeks the mommy bird gave up - leaving the daddy bird confused and staring at the unhatched eggs. (they are supposed to hatch after around 13 days) Maybe NEXT year - or even later this year - there will be another nest.

As I mentioned above, it was quite hot for around a week - warm enough indeed to wear just a t-shirt for us humans. For blackbirds, they have to fluff out as Mr Black depicts in the photo as he rests on our patio 'fluffed out'.