Further along, we spotted oyster catchers.
We saw quite a few birds - mostly seagulls though.
Only sightable by zoom or noccies though.
What was that that we spotted in the grasslands?
Shelduck!
That brings us to the end of that trip - so I will leave this post with a mystery photo. What is this a picture of, can you see?
The crow abandoned the idea of getting a tasty treat from the empty smoothie glass, and decided to pick out some more sauce sachets.
It made quite a mess, tossing unwanted ones around, before it once again tried to get into the HP sauce sachet. Maybe it was the color that attracted it to that specific item?
Tap, tap, tap....ah!
It seemed to get some sauce finally....and tried 3 pecks before abandoning that flavour and looking for something tastier. It ended up having a drink from the dog water bowl then disappearing round the corner - taking the sauce sachet with it!
We wandered along the coast to West Witterings and spotted an egret.
We kept walking along.
Then found a better view of the egret.
This is the last picture I took of the Egyptian geese family at Wakehurst. Next I found another bird to photograph.
A male pheasant dashing across the pathway.
What a lot of goslings that family had - 10!
10 goslings is quite a large number.
Our next excursion took us to Itchenor, where we started our coastal hike with coffee. Whilst Liz sipped her latte, we spotted a crow...
....who was investigating a previous occupants leftovers.
The crow found a few crumbs to nibble, then moved on to investigate other items on the tabletop.
It seemed to be wondering of the empty smoothie glass or condiments box were the better option, once crumbs were gobbled.
It actually investigated both.
It began to peck at the HP sauce sachet....while Liz and I watched on in amusement.
The glass or the sauce? hmmm...it had stuck its beak into the glass and the sachet....so we wondered if it would continue with either or both. The smoothie perhaps?
...or maybe not...
Nah....back to the sauce sachet!!
Our trip to Borde Hill Gardens presented a sight for pigeon-dove lovers. Alas, they are all statues....and cost £60 each.
Further around, we noticed a former bird statue had broken...
Our next trip was back to Wakehurst, Liz being determined to catch the best of their bluebells.
Firstly, we found three lots of geese by the pond - a family of Greylags, a Canada goose and an Egyptian goose family.
There were a lot of people around, so I had to try to dodge them whilst getting my pictures.
Alas, I couldn't avoid the odd arm or leg getting in the view.
At least I managed to capture the geese, too!
Our next trip was back to Wakehurst Place and then Borde Hill gardens on easter Saturday. We met up with some geese. They were wandering along among the grass and lady smock.
Beyond the Greylag, there was a family of Egyptian geese, also strolling along.
They seemed quite tame and did not worry about us, so I managed some good close-up shots.
The geese were wandering everywhere, it seemed.
Geese, geese, more geese....
Oh - THAT is not a goose....
That is a crow!
That brings us to the end of the selection of bird pictures taken at Wakehurst.
At the next hide we saw Canada geese and seagulls mostly.....and a bee or wasp!
There was also an oyster catcher, but it ducked as I took the shot. there were also plenty of returning sand martens, but I didn't catch any of them on the camera.
There were a pair of Greylag geese with a single child in the wildlife garden.
The Bewick swans, Mr and Mrs Silvertag were lazing in their enclosure.
They do not look like they are nesting - again. The first year they had young whilst not being expected to have any for a few years, but there have been no more since.
If you are wondering what became of the Trumpeter duo, as I have posted so many of the Bewicks but no Trumpeters, so were we!
As we left the Bewicks, not having spotted the AWOL duo in their usual site, their old site, or any other enclosure as yet, a member of staff informed us that one had died. The remaining Trumpeter was getting lonely and had been put into the former diving duck aviary enclosure now housing black backed radjah shelducks. That brings us to the end of that excursion.
