Birds seen during a January walk in Battersea Park

My camera took me for a lovely walk round the lake in London's Battersea Park last Friday.  I have already written posts with photographs of the birds on the ice and the resident mute swan family.  Now I am showing photographs of the other birds that I encountered on my walk.

As part of the lake was frozen, I was lucky enough to first see a Great Crested Grebe that was swimming nearer to the path than normal.  They usually seem to be in the middle of the lake and much too far away for decent photographs with my tiny camera.  This one was quite obliging, but did not stay near me for long.

There were quite a lot of Tufted ducks on the lake.  Below is a male

and a female.

There were also several Gadwalls.  This is the female

and this is the male.

 I also came across a Cormorant, but it kept diving and then swam away from me before I could get a decent photograph of it.

This time, on the lake, there were at least six pairs of Northern Shovelers.  Here the female is shoveling in a bubbling section of the lake while the male goes for a swim.

The female is still shoveling and the male has swum back to the bubbling water to join her.

Later the female went for a swim and came quite near to the railings at the edge of the lake.

Away from the water, I came across a large Wood Pigeon looking for food in a flower bed.

There were also several Magpies.  I find these always fly away from me when I try to get near to them, even though I think I am creeping very quietly towards them.  This one landed on the railings and I managed to get a photo before it realised I was there and flew off!

I love walking round the park and, so far, have always come across some interesting wildlife.  It is great to be able to get close to nature in London.

Seven juvenile mute swans in Battersea Park

Last Friday I went for another walk round the lake in Battersea Park.  I always check out the mute swan family when I am there.  Many months ago the pen and cob started off with nine tiny fluffy cygnets and, every time I have been to the park, I have seen the growing family.  Up until recently, all nine cygnets were still around but, this time, there were only seven juveniles.  I presume these must all be female as I read somewhere that the adult swans first chase off the males.

It was impossible to take a close-up photograph of the family all together.  In this one, mum and dad are with six of their cygnets and the seventh is swimming away from the family group.  Park of the lake was frozen, which can be seen in the background.

Unfortunately it was rather a dull afternoon so the photographs are a bit dark.  Here are three of the juveniles, with a couple of coots behind them.

I managed to get a close-up photograph of one of the cygnets.  I think it was hoping that I would give it some food!

 This one is looking a bit angry and was swimming quite quickly and had ruffled feathers.

The cygnets are now very large and, no doubt, will soon lose their brown colouring when they turn into adults.  I expect their parents will chase them away, as that appears to be what usually happens with swans.

The photographs below are of one of the parents - I am no expert so do not know if it is mum or dad.  Does anyone know how you can tell the difference?

No doubt I will be visiting Battersea Park again and will find out if the cygnets are still there.  I hope next time that there will be sunshine and no ice!

Birds on ice in London's Battersea Park, Battersea Power Station and the view from Chelsea Bridge

Yesterday afternoon it was dry and not as cold as the last few days, so my camera decided to take me on another walk round the lake in Battersea Park.  It was a bit misty along the river Thames on the way to the park and quite overcast, so not really the best day for photography, but at least it was not raining.  On my way along the river I passed Battersea Power Station - now with a lot of work being done to it as it is converted into flats, etc.

This is a view of the power station through a motley-looking tree.

Below is a photograph of Chelsea Bridge, which I had to walk over in order to get to Battersea Park on the other side of the river.

Below is the view from Chelsea Bridge and shows the railway bridge over the river with a very misty Vauxhall Tower in the distance on the left-hand side and the new American Embassy (still under construction) on the right-hand side.

When I got into the park, I discovered that part of the lake was frozen over and birds were standing on the ice.  Here is a collection of dancing black-headed gulls.

This black-headed gull looks as though it is wondering what is going on and thinking how cold its feet are.

These two gulls are standing right near the edge of the ice.

Further round the lake there were amazing reflections of the trees in the ice and lots of twigs and sticks sitting on top of the frozen water. 

A very bemused-looking heron was standing on the ice - must be hard trying to fish in these conditions!

There were lots of black-headed gulls standing on the frozen water on the other side of the lake, behind the heron.

Here two coots are having trouble with walking on the ice.

There is a another small lake further round the park and there was a row of male and female Mallards standing on the ice in the middle of this.

There were patches of open water in the lake where I saw several pairs of Northern Shovelers and Gadwalls, a Cormorant, Great Crested Grebe, Tufted duck, a large collection of Coots and the park's resident Mute Swan family - pen, cob and 7 juvenile swans.  I hope to put photographs of them in another blog post when I have time.

Eider duck and drakes in Barnes Wetland Centre

I like going to the Barnes Wetland Centre and went there several times last year.  Unfortunately, I do not seem to be able to keep up with going out and taking photographs of birds and then writing posts about them.  I do not know where the time goes.

Anyway, my last visit to the Centre was in mid-November and I had a great time watching the Eider ducks wandering around in their enclosure.  I realise that they are being held captive and are not free-flying birds, but they seem to be having a good life and many people would never be able to see them otherwise as, during the breeding season, they mainly can be found in the UK on the north Northumberland coast and off the west coast of Scotland.  I gather that they can be found in the same areas in winter and also further south on the Yorkshire coast and around the east and south coast as far as Cornwall and some can also be found off the Welsh coast and Befast Lough in Northern Ireland.  This information was from the RSPB internet site.

Below is a photograph of a wandering Eider drake, looking very handsome and picturesque behind the flowering plants.

Apparently, the Eider is the UK's heaviest duck (which it looks!) and its fastest flying.  It is a true sea-duck and is rarely found away from the coast when its dependence on coastal molluscs for food has brought it into conflict with mussel farmers.  Eiders are highly gregarious and usually stay close inshore, riding the swell in the sandy bay or strung out in long lines out beyond the breaking waves.  It is an Amber List species because of its winter concentrations.  This information is again from the RSPB site, where an explanation of the red, amber and green lists can be found.

Here two Eider drakes are marching around behind the grasses and both look very handsome.

A little later in the day, the Eiders went for a swim.  There were several of them around and, below, are photographs of three drakes and a female swimming around in golden water with amazing reflections from the sun, etc., on the water in the lagoon.

Further information on Eider ducks: the Latin name is Somateria mollissima, they are in the family swans, ducks and geese (Anatidae) and they eat shellfish, especially mussels.

One day, I hope to see them in the wild - if I can ever manage a holiday on the coast of Northumberland, Scotland or Cornwall at the appropriate time of year.