Tufted ducks in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens

 

During the week before Christmas I went for a long walk round the lake in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.  It seemed to be a day for Tufted ducks.

The first one I saw was on the Serpentine in Hyde Park - and I think he looks very handsome.

He spent a lot of time diving for food.  Unusually for me, instead of getting a photo of just disturbed water, I actually got a photo of his backside.  I like the fan-tail feathers in the photograph below.

At the other end of the park, in Kensington Gardens, there were several Tufted ducks on one of the ponds in the Italian Garden.  Here is a photograph of a drake.

Here is photograph of two drakes.

Here is a photograph of three drakes.

Now the picture is back down to two drakes.  I love the reflections in the water - almost as though it is on fire!

In this photograph there are three drakes again, with the one on the left-hand side splashing jets of water all over his pals!

On one of the other ponds in the Italian Garden, minding their own business and keeping well away from the boys, were a couple of female Tufted ducks.

Birds in London's Battersea Park

I have walked round the lake in London's Battersea Park several times during the last few months and below are photographs of some of the birds I have seen there on my visits.

Hiding behind the shrubbery are two herons, which I have often seen fishing together.

 Here one of them has its beak under the water and, hopefully, catching something tasty.

I don't usually take photographs of pigeons, but I liked the colouring of this one.  It was quietly sitting on the railing, posing very nicely for me - so how could I resist?  Normally birds just fly away when I go anywhere near them, so this was a nice change.

At the moment there seem to be lots and lots of black-headed gulls (without black heads) around.  Everywhere I go lately, the water is filled with them.  In this photo, there is just one.

Here a couple of Egyptian Geese are paddling round the edge of the lake.

Finally, a magpie has found something tasty on the ground and is having a little snack among the leaves.

Cormorants and a heron in Hyde Park

On Monday my camera took me for another walk in Hyde Park.  The weather forecast had promised some sunshine in the early afternoon, but this did not materialise - as usual with weather forecasts!  Anyway, it was a fairly nice day, if a little chilly, and I definitely needed my hat and gloves.  I always wear finger-less gloves so that I can still easily use the camera and, fortunately, it was not cold enough to freeze my fingers.

During this walk I spotted a number of cormorants - mainly standing on posts and sometimes extending their wings in order to dry them.

Below are three cormorants and a gull standing on the posts near the bridge that divides the Serpentine in Hyde Park from the Long Water in Kensington Gardens.

After I took the preceding photograph, the cormorant nearest to me held out its wings so that it could be photographed again.

There is a long row of posts in this spot of the lake and cormorants and black-headed gulls were occupying the tops of most of them.

Just further around the lake, there is a place where the end of the Long Water can be viewed.  Here, in the foreground, there are four cormorants standing on the fallen branch in the water.  In the distance are the wall, fountain and urns at the end of the Italian Garden with a red London bus posing nicely in the arch formed by the tree in the foreground.  It was very good of it to stop there for me!

On the other side of the Serpentine, near the little island, there are some more posts and these were occupied by some more cormorants and one heron.

In the below photograph, the cormorant is showing its lovely wings to the heron, but the heron is not the least bit interested!

In fact, there were four cormorants on the posts - with three is wing-drying mode.  The heron still does not look at all interested in them.

I did take photographs of other birds while I was in the park, but don't have time to write about them now and will probably now have to leave it until after Christmas when I am back at home.

Shovelers on the Round Pond in Kensington Gardens, London

Just over a week ago I went for a long walk on a lovely day in London's Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. This time I went on the underground to High Street Kensington and entered the park near Kensington Palace.

I started by walking along the path to the Round Pond in Kensington Gardens.  I am relatively new to the birding world and am always on the look-out for wildlife that I have not come across before.  I was thrilled to see that there were several Shoveler ducks on the pond - as they are a first for me.

I took the following information about these ducks from the RSPB internet site:

"Shovelers are surface feeding ducks with huge spatulate bills.  Males have dark green heads, with white breasts and chestnut flanks.  In flight, birds show patches of light blue and green on their wings.  In the UK they breed in southern and eastern England, especially around the Ouse Washes, the Humber and the North Kent Marshes, and in much smaller numbers in Scotland and western part of England.  In winter, breeding birds move south and are replaced by an influx of continental birds from further north.  The UK is home to more than 20% of the NW European population, making it an Amber List species."

When I first encountered the Shovelers - all drakes - two of them were swimming round and round in circles with their long beaks under the water and, presumably, scooping up some sort of food.

The Shoveler in the photo below was swimming on its own and here has the end of its beak under the water.  Judging by the colour and pattern of the feathers on its side, I am guessing that this is a juvenile drake.

A Canada goose swam by the two circling Shoveler drakes, taking no notice of them at all.

I also presume that the Shoveler in the below photograph is a juvenile drake, with its head just beginning to turn green - but I don't know for sure.  Perhaps somebody can give me some further information?

In the below photo, the bird looks very bizarre with its weird shaped beak!

A gull then took up some synchronised swimming with one of the Shoveler drakes, making fast speed across the pond.  I just don't understand why the birds always want to get away from me when I am trying to take photographs of them!

This one was a bit braver and came nearer to me.

Well, it made for an interesting start to the walk and I was very pleased to have seen these very strange looking water birds.

Gadwalls in the Italian Garden, Kensington Gardens

Yesterday was a very mild day and I was feeling a bit fed up, so my camera decided to take me on a long slow walk round the lakes in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.

When I reached the Italian Garden at the end of the Long Water in Kensington Gardens, I spotted a couple of Gadwalls on one of the ponds.

Here are Mr and Mrs Gadwall, with lots of lovely reflections in the water.

This handsome chap is the drake.

This pretty lady is the duck.

They make a very handsome couple, don't you think?

They were swimming around in the water, trying to get as far away as possible from the mad photographer who was following them around the pond.  Below is another view of Mr Gadwall.

In the photo below is another view of  Mrs Gadwall, who was following the drake wherever he went.

Then they decided to head for the centre of the pond, near the fountain, and do a spot of synchronised diving!

Below is a view of the bull-rushes in one of the four ponds in the Italian Garden.  In the background are the urns and statues round the fountain that overlooks the end of the Long Water.

My camera cheered me up yesterday and also made me have some exercise as it took me at least a couple of hours to walk round both the Long Water and the Serpentine, stopping quite often to take photos of course!

Nine juvenile mute swans in Battersea Park

On 25th November my camera took me for another walk in Battersea Park in order to check up on the Mute swan family.  Earlier in the year I visited the park several times and I was pleased to see that mum and dad swan still had their full brood - nine cygnets - getting larger every time I saw them.  They are nearly adult now and it was great to see that there are still nine juvenile swans/large cygnets on the lake.

 

 

 

This is just a reminder of what the cygnets looked like some months ago - how they have grown!

 

I have more photographs of the cygnets when they were young on one of my previous blog posts.

Great Crested Grebe in Battersea Park

It was a lovely sunny day yesterday so my camera took me for a walk in Battersea Park, which is not far from where I live.

There I was lucky enough to see one of my favourite waterbirds - a Great Crested Grebe.  It was bobbing about all over the place, often disappearing from sight under the water and diving for food.  Below it is pictured with a Black-headed Gull.

In the photograph below, it is joined by a Tufted drake.

Now it is in the middle of a group of five Black-headed Gulls.

As usual, it was not very keen on swimming near to the edge of the lake, so it was quite difficult to get any decent close-up photographs.  Here the Great Crested Grebe is in front of a line of Black-headed Gulls.

Every so often the Grebe did swim near to the path on which I was standing.  The photographs below were taken when the Great Crested Grebe was nearest to me.

I love going to any of London's parks as I never know what beautiful birds I am going to see and they are always different.  I was so lucky to see this Great Crested Grebe swimming in the lake yesterday.