BIRD NEWS:760

 

My WWT Arundel trip was drawing to a close, via the cafe, after just a few more hides and wanderings. My first shot for this post is of a group of cornorants on an island.

A little further along, I spotted some greylags.

Then, I saw a farm duck. Regular readers may recall Goggles the farm goose....also white with ornage beak - but Goggles is big and farm ducks, as opposed to farm geese, are smaller. Below you can see a final shot from this trip of mine of Goggles to compare the two.

February 2023, and Liz and I set out on our next expedition. We arrived at Nymans and were happy to see crocus and snow drop and cyclamen fowers to herald spring. The old ruined house had jackdaws on it, so out came my camera.

I took a couple of shots of the birds on the ruined walls and missing roof edge...

The jackdaws were all over the lawns too - so I reckon quite a few inhabit the old ruins.

Finally for today - a shot from the next trip - Goggles - as we passed by one saturday in February.

BIRD NEWS:759

 

 

 

I walked further around and spotted a waterrail from the outside small bird feeding station.

Here is an infoboard concerning the lil one I had just seen. Also, an infoboard with a great hot of a pied wagtail - which I often spot walking sidewalks or promenades.

It was then time to wander on towards Silvertag and Orangetag the Bewick duo.

I stopped to spend a few minutes with them - Silvertag is on the left in the shot below.

And again - here she is preening.

They were just hanging out in front of the dogwoods with the mallards.

Well I looked...but did not see. The last time I have seen snipe was when Liz and I visitied Shoreham and accidentlly came across some RSPB members doing a bird count and we found a whole island full of them.

HERE is a bird id quiz

BIRD NEWS:758

 

I trekked along to the next ponds, after learning the fate of the two absent pelicans from a staff member I passed. Alas, 2 of the 4 remaining female pelicans had passed away - like the 2 original males. Nobody knows why... I soon arrived at the next lake and took a photo of some American woodducks.

HERE you can see and hear - a magpie goose.

I also caught a pair of Chiloe wigeon passing in the video. You can read more about them above. Below, are the Radjah Shelducks.

Next spotted were a pair of Nenes.

I then came to the Trumpeter swans...

I also shot the info board as a reminder. I seem to learn so many bird facts, that several escape if not reinforced.

Still with the T-swans...

BIRD NEWS:757

 

We finished inside the reserve and wandered the outer woodland area. We were notified of sea eagle sightings so made our way to the corner of the wooded area to see what we could see. We saw a kestrel in a tree to the left, a red kite and a marsh harrier. There is one above the shepherds hut in my first picture today. Below is the kestrel.

My next excursion was a solo hike to Arundel WWT and back. Passing Goggles on his pond en route, I took just over 2 hrs to reach Arundel, as per usual, slowed only by observations and camera.

Not more than a few hundred yards further, I stopped to take a picture of a peacock in the house to the left.

As I neared Arundel, I spotted a mallard enjoying a puddle in the fields near the river Arun.

On my way up the avenue towards the reserve, I spotted 2-3 mute swans enjoying more water logged fields - along with a bunch of gulls on this occasion.

This next picture was to be of a mute swan flying low over the local riverland hide, the lake filled with greylag geese. The swan made touchdown though!

This shot of 2 pelicans mystified me - 2? Where were the other 2 ladies hiding?

BIRD NEWS:756

 

Liz and I saw more show pigeons later on - but they saw us first! We were watching the nuthatches and tits feeding when we were spotted!

They came down to feed by the icy pond sometimes on the wooden edge and sometimes 'skating' across the ice.

Our watching continued - a female grreenfinch was sharing some seed with a nuthatch...

We wandered along a bit and spotted.....

...a perching kestrel!

It sat near the entry to one if the hides....so we watched it for a while before entering.

Then we learned something from an infoborad.

Information? well....I recently learned that the word Seatherny means the serenity one feels when listening to the chirping of birds.

BIRD NEWS:755

 

In the back yard in January 2023, I regularly sight 4 collared doves. Here are two of them munching fallen seed under the feeders. Whilst you an see the blackbrd and sparrow in the next picture, moments before I went click there were also a blue tit and robin in view - all at once.

After wet n windy weather for most of december and january, Liz and I finally got out for a decent hike. We went along to the river in Littlehampton crossed over and back to the coastline at west beach then walked most of the way to bognor and back. On our route, I spotted these oyster catchers.

There were sanderlings and turnstones further along.

My final shot from that trip in the second half of January is of an infoboard...

Liz and I took an excursion to RSPB Pulborough Brooks. The first birds I spotted were a pair of show pigeons having a bath!

I had, of course, to take their pictures!!

They were all cute and puffed up after their bath!

HERE is another ID guide.

BIRD NEWS:754

 

Our next trip, Liz and I took her granddaughter Megan to Shoreham. I took this photo of a pair of mute swans gliding a out the lagoon where we parked.

We walked around - along the coast and across the footbridge into Shoreham, expecting a market that was advertised but absent, then coffee at the cafe which was shut... We tried a new cafe which sold fancy coffee -they had almond milk for me, and a shot glass of soda water with your coffee which i approved of, and a cookie. we then progressed towards the estuary to take a walk - stopping to chat to some RSPB volunteers doing a bird count on the high tide. Apparently there were 160 of these snipe.

There was also a heron and lapwing and....well, the heron came out in the picture. The river estuary was as if flooded with the extra high tide, flushing out all the birds into view, hence the counters. It was a lovely accidental surprise to counteract the disappointment of the missing market and cafe.

Although you cannot see the snipe very clearly, they are not often spotted by us and to see so many all at once was amazing.

There were another pair of mute swans further up the river - which if you have read former blogs you my recall is not usually this wide....

They hid their heads....but I can tell you they were mute swans.

Next, we walked along the boardwalk to the fort and back...and I had to take a shot of the pigeons - although they were startled by a dog and walkers just as I was about to take the photo.

As you can see, it was a dark dreary grey day....so they did not show up too well anyways.