Mid-March bird walk in Regents Park

On 13th March the sun was shining and, in the afternoon, I went for another walk in Regents Park.  I walked into the park from the entrance that is the nearest to Baker St underground station and, at the bridge that crosses the lake, I turned right to walk along the path that runs along the narrower part of the lake.  I had not gone far when I came across a family of Egyptian Geese - mum, dad and at least eight baby goslings.  It was hard to count them as they were running about all over the place.

This is a close-up of one of the Egyptian goslings with some lovely fluffy feathers.

Sitting under a nearby tree was a beautiful Whooper swan.

I like it's lovely yellow and black beak.

There was also a Moorhen running around on the grass in front of the yellow and white daffodils.

I went round to the other side of the lake and the Egyptian Goose family had wandered down to the water's edge.  In this photograph there are nine baby goslings - six on the bank and three in the water.

Mum was leading the goslings along the edge of the water with dad at the rear.  Suddenly he took off and flew across the water to my side of the lake.  Some people near me were feeding other birds and he had obviously decided to join in.

 As I walked along this side of the lake, I saw a Canada Goose standing near a single daffodil.

It was wandering around and this is a close-up photograph taken whilst it was standing in front of several bunches of daffodils.

I then wandered round the larger main part of the lake.  There I saw a female Pochard.

Also a Black-headed Gull with a speckled face.

For a change, a Great Crested Grebe was swimming fairly near to the edge of the water instead of being in the middle of the lake.  I managed to get a much closer shot of it in the sunlight.

The Great Crested Grebe kept diving and here it has surfaced with something, probably a small fish, in it's beak.  Unfortunately it came up behind a Black-headed Gull, so I have got it's back-view in the photograph too.

I also saw some male Pochards.  This is a photograph of one of the drakes with a beady red eye watching me.

I am not very good with action photos and this is the best I could do as this heron took off in front of me.  I like it's long dangly legs as they are just leaving the ground.

I walked all round the lake and, when I reached the other side, I came across this handsome Barnacle Goose.

Here the Barnacle Goose is doing the goose-step!

I also walked round the pond that is set in Regent's Park inner circle.  There I came across a pair of Black Swans.  The female is sitting on a poor excuse for a nest, with the male nearby keeping an eye on her.

The nest is very flat on the ground and does not contain many twigs.  I hope that they can do better than this!

Also in this area was a male Tufted Duck with a lovely bright yellow eye.  He definitely looks as though he is smiling!

I liked this rather military-looking Mallard drake standing to attention by the side of the tree.

 I love exotic-looking Mandarin ducks and was very pleased to find this couple.  The extraordinary-looking drake was in the water while his very beautiful partner was preening her feathers on the bank.

 What a very cute couple they make!  I love their very sweet-looking eyes.

Finally I came across a pair of fighting Moorhens - one was chasing the other all around the plants and in and out of the water.

Another great walk with lots of interesting wildlife.  I feel very lucky that there are several nearby parks in London so that I can easily get away from the traffic, have some exercise, see some wildlife, take lots of photographs and have a relaxing time.