Mid-March blossoms, birds and Red-crested Pochards in Battersea Park

In mid-March, on 15th, my camera and I went for another walk in Battersea Park.  It was a lovely day and the sun was actually shining.  The trees and shrubs were looking lovely with lots of early Spring blossom.

When I first went along to the lake, I saw some Red-crested Pochards.  This is a female.

This is a male Red-crested Pochard.

Lots of Cormorants were sitting in the tops of trees that edge the lake.

At this time of the year most of the trees did not have any leaves.

At one side of the lake coots were causing mayhem by fighting one another, completely ignoring the disruption they were causing to the ducks and geese on the lake and the pigeons on land.

Here I saw a rather lovely hybrid Mallard drake.  He was larger than the normal drakes and had a brown body.  Does anyone know what sort of cross-breed he is?  If so, please let me know.  I have also seen similar Mallard hybrids in other parks.

Here the hybrid Mallard is swimming along with a female Mallard.

A pigeon on the bank has photo-bombed this photograph of the hybrid Mallard.

In this photograph the difference between the larger hybrid Mallard and his friend, a normal Mallard drake, can be clearly seen.

The two Mallards were travelling in convoy with the female Mallard.

Across the lake, on the island in the centre of the water, a Heron was having a yoga session, presumably drying it's wings.

Further round the lake I came across a pair of Gadwalls - female at the top and male at the bottom of the photograph.  They were in the distance and swimming along with their beaks in the water, gathering up food.

Another waterbird in the distance, as usual, was this Great Crested Grebe.  It had been fishing and there is something in it's beak - probably a small fish.

Back round the lake, more-or-less where I began my walk, there were more Red-crested Pochards.  I love their funny hairstyles and their red eyes and beaks.

There were also some Tufted ducks.  In this photograph there are a couple of them - brown female at the front and black-and-white male at the back of the picture.

After my walk around the lake, I walked along the path then runs along the edge of the river Thames.  I could not resist taking a photograph of the historical brick tower and water pumping station in Pimlico/Victoria and the modern glass Shard that is quite a long way away in London Bridge.