Garden visitors or just passing through. Yesterday morning I thought I was dreaming as I woke I heard parrots! The noise got louder and interrupted by the cackle of Magpies. Our garden is small and divided at the bottom of the garden by large Beech and Sycamore trees.

Four Ring-necked parakeets were high in the Beech trees eating the beach nuts. With their strong beaks they can easily remove the nuts from the husks. At this point the Magpies try to steal the nuts.

Yesterday evening and this morning the sound of parakeets are again in the trees although I did not see them again.

An update on past posts following the Great Crested Grebes family on a local lake. The chicks are growing well and all four have survived. They remain close to their parents but are fishing independently. The group comes together but a lot of the time 2 chicks stay with each parent bird.

The chicks are about the same size as the adult birds but remain in their humbug juvenile plumage.

Fossil and archaeological records show that the Dalmatian Pelican bred in Britain until medieval times other references say they were lost to Britain earlier and they were hunted to extinction during the Roman occupation, almost 2,000 years ago. they are now an extremely rare visitor from southeast Europe and an occasional escapee from waterbird collections. There are some thoughts of a reintroduction programme of Dalmation Pelicans to the UK.

I see posts on WP of Pelicans on jetties in the US. I always love those views. Today I visited the WWT centre at Arundel where they have these 2 birds in their collection of waterbirds.