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Onwards I walked and came across a pheasant perusing the sunnier side of the undergrowth. it may also have been looking across at its mate - as there was movement in the grasses beyond.

I rounded the reed beds and woodland hide, with little new to my camera - but spotted the moorhen back on the nest nearby. I could not see close enough - but it looked like it was attending either a youngster or an egg.

Further along, there was another moorhen with chicks this time - little fluffy black things with tiny little wings, awwwwwww.

They seemed to be able to swim, toddle along, squish through the mud, and keep up with the parent bird fairly well for their size and shape, however.

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One last shot of the heron, before I left the hide and made my way towards the boat jetty. I thought I would go on the boat trip again this time. This next shot was taken of a tufted duck that we passed on the ride - with partner who escaped the shot.

Next, I passed the Bewick swans enclosure to investigate upon their potential nesting behaviours. Well - that one was sitting down, but it did not look like it was upon a nest. The other one...

...was by a fence preening, being observed by geese. I had more luck at the Trumpeter swan enclosure - there was a nest!

It was right where they had built their successful nest last year, too - on the small islet in the lake. On this trip, whilst on the boat, we spotted a sedge warbler. Further along upon my trek around the center, I spotted another - I took a couple of shots - but there was only one that actually came out clear enough to tell it was a bird! If you cannot see it - it is dead center of the photo.

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Leaving these cute chicks at the boat trip area, I did not travel far before another goose family were encountered - plodding along on the path I was trying to go along.

You may note that although the goslings look similar, the adults are different species of goose. Here they go - finally plodding off, letting me get past and go into the hide!

They were not far away when I turned round to see where they had gone to...but nibbling on the path side.

I arrived in the hide and what caught my eye was a heron - its head and neck visible amidst the grasses.

Back home and the news from the back yard at the close of the month was that the jay who likes peanuts has popped back to visit a couple of times. The blackbirds, sparrows and starlings all come and go with several young. I have spotted Ditty and partner dove in the trees at the rear of the yard, and am thinking and hoping that they might have been nesting there, since they rejected the pittisporum. No sign of the magpies recently though, and the blue tits do not seem to be in the nesting box any longer...

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Back home, and we have a new Bubster-Pidge on the scene - and sill. This one is still unafraid of humans - well, of me at least. It does not fly away when I go to the window - yet. Here it is sitting in the tree staring at me...

April drew to a close, and on the penultimate day I took another excursion. Regular readers will know instantly where I went when spotting this first photo...

Yes, back to Arundel. Liz gave me an annual subscription to the WWT reserve for my 50th birthday last year and the year is nearly over. I thought it fitting to attend on my 51st birthday! Although, she has persuaded me to join up beyond the initial gift year - and I am somewhat hooked on following the life of the various swans here...

Every time I visit, I learn something new, I see something new, and enjoy my trip. I did not previously know this information about mallards, for example. This next picture shows something similar to what was experienced at the start of my membership last year - goose and goslings near the boat trip entrance seats - keeping an eye on us human strangers!

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indeed, in this picture it appears mommy coot is teaching baby coot how to eat without being fed and the baby does look very interested in the lesson! My final stop for this brief 1-2 hour trip to Arundel was the cafe, where I had coffee and lunched. The eider ducks seemed to be congregating noisily around the cafe area to my pleasure.

Not having human companions with me on this trip, it was nice to hang with the eiders...

I then made my way onwards, already having stopped at Bognor and Littlehampton before Arundel - but wanting to slip in Rustington on my way home. I did in fact manage the lot in an excursion of 8 hours and 15-20 minutes.

On my way home, I strolled along the avenue to town to catch the bus and spotted an entire family of pheasants. As there are 3 gray and one brown, I assume the brown is the female and gray are the young.

One last shot taken back in the reserve that for some reason did not come in order numerically when i loaded the photo - of the trumpeter swan.

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It seemed to be a struggle to keep up with mother moorhen, for these fluffy chicks. I turned the corner and took a few shots of the harlequin duck - posing for the camera on this occasion - along with the info board.

I got a couple of close ups before moving along - and what should I find but more babies! This time a coot and youngster. Parent coot seemed more interested in eating, though.

Baby coot wanted munchies too - and from the last photo I will share with you today, it looks like mommy coot is about to teach baby coot how to find its own food!

Finally - HERE  is some info about the jay - we have one that sometimes comes to eat peanuts in our yard.

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I moved along from the swans and walked through the reedbed walkway and found a chaffinch nibbling seed on the stump at the outdoor woodland area.

I did not find much to photograph there or in the woodland hide this trip, but I did spot a family of moorhens very near the hide as I left it. The babies were so cute and fluffy with teeny tiny wings - and I remember last year, in May when I first joined and came regularly, there were baby moorhens around then too.

The young just seemed to waddle-flap their way along after mommy bird, paddling through the muddy bits and splashing thru the waters.

They fluffed up when they swam and looked so tiny....