Lots of early March wildlife in London's St. James's park

Another catch-up blog post - this time it is about early March wildlife in London's Saint James's Park.  It was a lovely sunny afternoon and I went into the park near the St. James's Park underground station.  When I reached the bridge over the lake, I started walking in a clockwise direction towards Buckingham Palace.

The first wildlife I came across was a family of Mute Swans and their teenage cygnet youngsters.  Here a juvenile swan is wondering what I am doing with my camera.  A black-headed gull (without the black head) is standing in the water behind the swan.

A parent Mute Swan and another very sleepy cygnet youngster are in this photograph.

Just behind the Mute Swan family there was a Black Swan, who was starting to become a little aggressive.

Then I met a black-headed gull with a black head - it is now wearing its breeding plumage and very smart it looks!

Further round the lake I met Mr. Mallard with his amazing iridescent green head.

There were some Red-Breasted Geese nearby - one striding along the edge of the lake and the other being chased away by a third goose (not in the photo).

When I rounded the edge of the lake near to Buckingham Palace, I came across a goose-stepping Greylag Goose in front of a carpet of purple crocuses.  I hope it was not tripped up by the twig on the ground!

Also in the area was a Barnacle Goose with its beak in the ground - no doubt it was searching for a tasty morsel in the grass.

I also saw a handsome Carrion Crow hopping around in the grass.

In the water at this section of the lake there was a Little Grebe.

In fact there were two Little Grebes.  They were a bit too far away for a decent photograph, but I tried anyway.

I then carried on walking along the Mall side of the lake back to the central bridge across the water.  I think this is a Ruddy Shelduck.  I am still in learning mode as to make and model of ducks and geese, so am looking up their pictures in Collins Bird Guide, which has been very useful.

I went past the bridge and walked on towards the cafe at the Trafalgar Square end of the lake.  Before I got there, I saw some more wildlife.  Now I do know what these two are - male and female Egyptian Geese.  They are trying, unsuccessfully to hide in the swatches of beautiful daffodils that were growing in the grass on the other side of the path that goes round the lake.

They were hiding a secret - a lone young Egyptian gosling - and the first baby bird that I had seen this year.  This was very early in March and I do hope it survived.

Here mum and baby have their heads down and are searching for something to eat.

A nearby Moorhen has succeeded in digging up a worm!

Past the cafe and round the other end of the lake, I saw a Heron modelling in front of a bed of reeds that were blowing around in the wind.

Round the corner and just before the park's gingerbread house,  I came across a second family of Mute Swans.  Here a juvenile cygnet is stretching its wings.

An adult Mute Swan has its head under its wing in a yoga pose.  The early evening sun is shining on one side of its body.

Now the swan is preening its feathers and showing off one of its black feet.

Here come an aggressive mob of Red-Crested Pochards swimming very quickly across the lake.

I think this is a female Mallard standing on one leg.

This Pochard drake is giving me the red-eye!

I believe this is a female Pochard.  She is airing her wings in the early evening sun

Here I also saw a lovely black-and-white Smew.  It was difficult to get it to pose for me and this is the best photo I could manage.

 Another Pochard was having a rest by the grating.  There are feathers sticking out of its back and it seemed to be hobbling a little, so it probably wasn't very well.

This is a photograph of the park's gingerbread house in the late afternoon sunshine.  There is a heron standing on the top of a turret at the right-hand side of the photograph.

Past the gingerbread house, I came across a sleepy juvenile Bar-Headed/Greylag Goose youngster.

Also, a sleepy Bar-Headed Goose parent (probably the mother).

A little further on were a couple of white Snow Geese.

One of them decided to go for a walk.

After these wildlife sightings, I carried on back to the central bridge across the lake and left the park by the same entrance I had come in by.  There were certainly a lot of different birds to see that day.   I took hundreds of photographs and had a very lovely walk.