Misty

Very odd light again this evening, almost indistinguishable from this morning with the sea mist coming in. In between it was very nice and pleasant. We took a stroll round the Arundel Wetlands Centre this morning. It was packed in the main areas which was good to see after all the weeks without visitors. We took ourselves and our coffee off to the woods again and sat in the forest hide enjoying the bluetits and, rather bizarrely a pair of Mandarin ducks. A pair of Mallards ventured in to stand under the feeders where the blue tits were. There was a huge stand-off between the Mandarins and the Mallards. I'd guess a lot of swearing was going on. The Mallards backed down and the Mandarin male took up residence on the bird table surveying the scene. Gradually the Mallards crept in and were finally tolerated by the Mandarins. Then through the bushes a Pheasant arrived. The same pantomime happened again with the Mandarins challenging the newcomer even though he was a lot bigger than them. Finally everyone got on with feeding and ignored everyone else.

The first ducklings have arrived and are so lovely to watch. We took a wander along the reed bed board walk. We'd heard that a Bittern had been heard and sighted, but, not surprisingly, we didn't see one this time.