We wandered around the WWT at Arundel, taking a few pictures as we strolled. There were plenty of geese to photograph.
Nenes, swan geese, and........
......PIGEONS!
Some very pretty pigeons....
Even Liz had to agree that they looked pretty.
Then we went into the hides to see what we could see.
Not much - just the odd mallard, moorhen, tufted, and shelduck...
The Egyptian geese family swam even closer to us, so I kept taking pictures of them.
In this one, it is clear that there are 5 youngsters and 2 parents.
There were also a few Canada geese, mallards, coots....
The above shot shows a second family of Egyptian geese as well as a mallard. That concludes the Midhurst section of our day out. Next, onto WWT Arundel.
Here we see the two new male pelicans, brought in specially for the resident duo of females. The two men are in front of the women in this shot.
They seem to be staying apart, yet getting along OK. It is possible they may start breeding from next year onward, so there is plenty of time to sort out which one wants which one!!
The two greyer ones are the gents.
My last camera outing of Wakehurst Place was of a pair of buzzards flying above us.
Which you might just make out.
And that concludes my early April excursion to Wakehurst Place eith Liz.
Our next trip took us to Midhurst, then WWT Arundel. Our first ornithological sighting was the waterfowl at the lakes in Midhurst's parkland.
Over the back towards the road bridge swam a family of Egyptian geese.
They decided to swim towards us.
Closer and closer, they came.
HERE are the 2025 birdwatch results
The pheasant appears to be in hiding from my camera!
Liz had put a few seeds on the top of fence posts anyway, as we had brought some with us because on our last few trips they hadn't put food out.
I tried to take a good shot of a nuthatch, but....
...was not very successful. I did mansge to get a picture of the robin below though.
There is a greylag goose on a nest one end, and a canada goose the other end also nesting.
Greylag.....
.....and Canada
The next trip Liz and I took was local. We hiked up our Highdown Hill to the top, visited the gardens, and then took a differing track homeward. I spotted a bird of prey...
It was a kestrel, we think, as it hovered. I have pointed it out in case you cannot see it in the photograph.
I ended up taking 4 shots - trying to get a good shot of it - but it didn't turn to the right angle at the right time.
The pelicans are now HERE!
Here is a picture of Pidge sitting outside my bedroom window. The next trip we took was to Wakehurst Place.
There was a greylag goose lazing beside the pond.
The feeders were filled again, no trays now due to RSPB advice, though.
We saw blue tit, great tit, coal tit, marsh tit, pheasant, robin, nuthatch...
My final picture of the storks from Kneep park ends that excursion. I have encircled the stork as it is almost out of sight. Our next trip was to Nymans again - but this time as well as walking the gardens and woodland field, we hiked the woodland proper - the place where Liz's nephew has his cabin nearby.
As we walked the woodland trail, we came across some carvings. First up, a pair of owls.
Further around we came across a kingfisher.
You can see the fish behind him.
Back home and there appears to be a white show pigeon joining the city pigeon flock.....AHHHH!!!!!!
This brings back memories of three of the four babes my duo of show pigeons gave birth to on the neighbor's roof back in Wollongong, the fourth being smoky grey.
This also brings us to the end of today's post.
I have a few more shots of flying storks from Knepp Park to share.
Some came out better than others, but I was determind to capture them on my camera so took quite a few shotd on both the settings I currently use.
They then descended behind trees....
I took my last few shots.
As the 2 storks blended with the trees.
And vanished from camerability.
And that almost ends my photos from Knepp park.
They have arrived in the WWT reserve. HERE
