Geese, swans, gulls, white doves and fancy hens along the River Yare in Norfolk

 At the weekend I visited Thorpe St Andrew, which is in the outskirts of Norwich.  It is a lovely area and the house I stayed in was not far from the River Yare.  On Saturday afternoon we walked to the river to have a look at what was going on.  There were lots of boats, of course, and some wildlife.  In the photograph below there is a Mute Swan in the distance and a gang of Greylag Geese.

The Greylags were having a great time and probably hoping we had some food for them - we did not, so they eventually lost interest in us.

On the river bank was a gang of Black-Headed Gulls - with white heads!  Can somebody tell me when they get their black heads back?

Then, swimming along on the other side of the river, were a couple of young Mute cygnets - now nearly grown up and looking very sophisticated.

They were followed by a parent, presumably mum Mute Swan, who was keeping a beady eye of
them.

We stopped for a short rest in the garden of a pub that overlooked the river.  There was a shed in the garden containing several fancy/unusual/exotic chickens/hens.  I don't know anything about hens or chickens but, having looked on the internet, I believe they may be Cochin hens.  Anyway, whatever they are, it was very interesting seeing them.

On the walk back along the river, I then took a few photographs of some white doves that were also on the river bank.  I love doves and, over the years, have collected several Falconware ceramic items that feature doves and dovecotes.

Then, on the other side of the river, I spied their dovecote!

It was a very interesting walk and made a change from taking photographs of the wildlife in London's parks.

Captive and wild birds in the Barnes Wetland Centre

I have been to the Barnes Wetland Centre (London Wetland Centre) several times over the last few years and always have an amazing and very interesting time there.  There are several large lagoons with bird hides, but often the birds on the water are much too far away and can only be clearly seen with very strong binoculars.  They are impossible to photograph unless you are wealthy enough to own a very large camera with a strong zoom lens.  Mine is only relatively tiny, so I have to resign myself to taking photographs of the reserve's captive birds.

The photographs below were taken during one of my walks round the reserve in March 2016 - I have taken so many photographs over the last couple of years and just not had time to write about them straight away.  I just don't know where my time goes, but it definitely runs away very fast!

These are some Black-Bellied Whistling ducks in preening mode.

These are Fulvous Whistling ducks in swimming mode.

These are 2 Southern Screamers in resting mode

and standing mode

The birds in the photograph below were on the wild side of the Wetland Centre and were swimming around in separate small ponds on the site.

Here is a Tufted drake

and his partner, a Tufted duck

 This is a mummy Tufted duck with 4 Tufted ducklings

 I presume this is a Mallard duckling that appears to be looking for bugs on the reeds.

Captive or wild, the birds at the Centre are amazing and I often find it hard to drag myself out of the place in order to go back home!

Two Leucistic Greylag Geese

In July I took my camera for a walk in the park.  I love wandering round the lake and seeing if I can spot any unusual water birds.  This time I came across a couple of Greylag geese with leucism - where there is a loss of colour in the feathers, which go white.  One of the geese was almost completely white, with just small patches of brown, and the other white and brown.

I read on the internet that leucism is a condition where there is a partial loss of pigmentation in an animal, resulting in white, pale or patching colouration of the skin, hair, feathers, scales or cuticle, but not the eyes.  Unlike albinism (where the eyes are pink), it is caused by a reduction in multiple types of pigment and not just melanin.

The first Greylag that I came across with this condition was on the path, mingling with lots of Canada geese who were being fed unsuitable food by some tourists.  It was not getting much of a look-in, with most of the bread going to the other geese.

 It eventually gave up and went for a swim in the lake.

In this photo, the leucistic Greylag is in the centre of the photograph, with two Canada geese in the background.  In the foregroud is another strange-looking goose, which I believe may be a cross between a Bar-Headed goose and a Canada goose.

The leucistic Greylag is now back on land and looking for food from the tourists again.

The next Greylag with leucism that I saw was swimming along with a normal Greylag companion.  This time the goose is more patchy with a mix of white and brown feathers.

I think that it looks attractive with its brown head and patchy brown feathers on its back and sides.

I have to say that seeing the two leucistic Greylag geese and the Bar-Headed/Canada goose hybrid made it a more interesting walk in the park that day.

Birds seen on a walk round the Serpentine and Long Water in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens

Whenever I have the time, I love taking my camera for a walk in the park.  There are several to choose from in London and, sometimes, I have great difficulty deciding between them.  Battersea and St. James's are the nearest and I can easily walk to eithe , followed by Hyde Park, with Regent's Park being slightly further away - but both of these are easily reached by underground or bus.  I never visit Green Park as there is no lake and I just love looking at all the water birds, so there is no point in going there.

This time, towards the end of August, I chose to walk round the lake in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.  I went by underground to Hyde Park Corner and went into the park at the nearest entrance from the station, strolling through the flower garden, past the Dell and up to the lake.  I began my walk along the Serpentine after passing the cafe that is at the end of the water.

The first interesting water bird I saw was a sweet and strange looking goose.  I believe that it is a hybrid Canada/Greylag-mix.  I think that it has a gorgeous face.

Then I came across a young Egyptian goose, which was swimming very quickly near the edge of the lake.

Following this, I saw a female Tufted duck with a duckling.  Unfortunately, they refused to pose nicely together so I had to take separate photographs of them.

Here is mum:

and here is the baby:

The Serpentine is a boating lake and is often covered with Pedalos.  There were plenty being used on it when I was there.  The strange-looking building at the end of the lake is the cafe where I started my walk.  The Shard can be seen in the distance, along with tall office buildings, reminding me that I was in London and not in the country!

There is another cafe in the park, by the swimming Lido, and here I found a cross-looking heron being stared at by a Canada goose.

The two lakes, Serpentine and Long Water, are dived by a road/pedestrian bridge.  Now the lake is reserved just for wildlife and no Pedalos are allowed along it.  It is very peaceful on the lake and there are not many places where the water can actually be seen as trees, shrubs and reeds line most of the banks on either side of the Long Water.  Below is the view across the lake from one of the few areas at the edge of the lake, where a couple of swans form a tranquil country scene in front of a willow and some wild flowers.

After that, I came across a tree-lined path where tourists are always to be seen feeding, or attempting to feed, the green Ringed-necked Parakeets.  Here three of them are deciding whether whatever is being offered is worth a flight.

At the next open area along the Long Water, there are some posts.  Here I came across a couple of Egyptian geese doing a balancing act.

Also, there was a speckled Black-headed gull swimming backwards and forwards - hoping for someone to offer it something that was worth eating, though I think the birds in the park will eat almost anything that they can find.

On the other side of the Long Water, I came across a Magpie hopping around in the grass.  I think, it too, was waiting for someone to feed it.

Back past the bridge and near the little island that is on this side of the Serpentine, I came found a parent Great Crested Grebe with two chicks.  A Canada Goose is standing in the water near the island and giving them a once over with its beady eye.

They swam away from the goose and a third chick joined the group.  I love their stripey heads and fluffy little bodies.

Standing on the island was a Heron and a Greylag goose, which was having a great preening session.

At the other end of the island, a Cormorant was standing on a post, drying its wings.

Another Cormorant was nearby wetting its wings and having a great bath!

Back out in the open water of the Serpentine there was a lonely large Mute cygnet, now looking very grown up.  By now (this photograph was taken in August), I expect it will be able to fly.

And lastly, here is a photograph of the back of a cross Mute swan that was angrily chasing some other water bird.

On this trip to Hyde Park I had taken 140 pictures and this is just a selection of them.  Even though it was over a month ago, I just have not had time until today to go through them.  Instead, in my spare time, I have taken my camera for other walks - so have even more photographs to try and sort out!

A surfeit of white Egrets at Rainham Marshes

I have not seemed to have had much time to write blog posts just recently.  I don't know why as I am retired and can do more-or-less what I want during the day, but the time just disappears.  Anyway, I am now forcing myself to do so.  At the end of August I visited the Rainham Marshes nature reserve.  I got a train to Purfleet and walked for about 15 minutes along the path that runs along the Thames to the entrance of the reserve.  It was a very hot day and, to my delight, there were lots of  white Egrets at the edge of one of the lagoons.  Unfortunately, they were too far away to take any decent photographs, but the picture below gives an idea of what I saw.

In the picture below, there is one of them paddling in the water in a corner of the lagoon.

I am no bird expert, having only developed an interest in taking photographs of them in the last couple of years - due to having been given a reasonably good  second-hand camera by my brother-in-law - so I am learning all the time.  I believe these are Little Egrets, which have cute yellow feet, as can be seen on the flying white Egret in the photograph below.

In fact, there seemed to be white Egrets all over the marshes on that day.  The photograph below was taken from one of the hides, which I sat in for a long time in order to get a break from the hot sun and to eat my lunch.  

I have bought myself a bird reference book - Collins Bird Guide - which I have found to be very helpful, along with the internet, when trying to identify birds.   The book gives the following information about Little Egrets: "Nests colonially in dense trees and bushes at shallow marshy lakes, rivers and coastal lagoons.  Has recently colonised S England.  Takes fish, frogs, insects, snails, etc. from shallow lakes, fish ponds, flooded fields and so on, often in small groups.

Identification: Medium-sized white heron, closer in size to Cattle Egret than to Great Egret, but slim and elegant.  Black legs with sharply contrasting bright yellow toes.  In flight, legs moderately projecting, wings look near centrally placed.  Bill black; lores (part of the beak) blue-grey for greater part of the year."

In the photograph below, an Egret is taking off and has its lovely wings extended.  

I have tried to enlarge the photo in order to identify what type of Egret it is - it may be the larger Great Egret as it seems to have dark coloured feet rather than yellow.

As I said earlier, the marshes seemed to be covered with white Egrets.  Below are two more that were standing in another lagoon in front of another bird-watching hide.  Here there were also Lapwings on view.

One of the white Egrets decided to march across the water and was obviously fishing for food.

In yet another small lagoon, there was another white Egret looking for its dinner.

It was a great day and I was absolutely thrilled to see so many white Egrets in the reserve.  I only wish that I could have got much nearer to them so that I could have taken better photographs!