Goslings, Great Crested Grebe chicks, waterbirds and foxgloves in Hyde Park

This follows on from yesterday's post about my visit to Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park in the middle of May, where I saw Princess Diana's memorial White Garden and lots of water birds - including a cygnet riding on it's mother's back - on the Round Pond and the Long Water.

The foxglove plantation in the below photographs was in an area at the end of the Serpentine and not far away from the cafe area.  The mixture of flowers looked absolutely amazing.  I absolutely love the tall elegant foxgloves and they were so perfectly complemented by the mix of other flowers planted with them.

I loved the flowers but my main aim when walking round any of London's parks is to photograph the wildlife.  There was a juvenile coot with huge feet clomping around on one of the reed beds opposite the cafe.

Not far away the white duck was scrabbling around at the water's edge in a feeding frenzy.

Further along the Serpentine there was a Greylag goose family - mum, dad and at least five young goslings.

A young herring gull was eyeing them up and, no doubt, hoping it would be able to catch one for lunch.  I love that, in this photograph, one of the baby goslings is swimming right underneath a parent's backside.  Here the goose is probably unaware that the herring gull is swimming right behind the family.

However, geese are always on the look-out for possible predators when they have a young family to look after.  In this photograph the adult goose has turned round and scared off the gull, which is now in full flight.

During my walk I came across this attractive blonde Egyptian goose, which I believe is a female.

Near the lido there was a family of Canada geese.  Here is an adult with five baby goslings.  Trust one of them not to be paying attention and swimming in the wrong direction!  No doubt it soon discovered it's mistake.

How cute are these two baby Canada goslings?  They are just amazing little fluff balls!

Someone had put some food down for birds - little red berries from the look of it - and the geese came out of the water in order to gobble some up.  Here one of the cute fluff balls is about to have a snack.

Further along the path round the lake, someone was feeding a grey squirrel with seeds.  It was perched on the side of a tree trunk while eating and some of the bits of seed have dropped onto the bark under it's front paws.

Towards the end of my walk I came across a pair of Great Crested Grebes with one young chick.   They were in the middle of the Serpentine and, therefore, it was very difficult to take any very clear photographs.  The following were taken with my camera at maximum zoom, but I was excited that I had seen the family and was pleased that some were clear enough to actually see the young chick.

Each parent was taking it in turns to give the chick a piggy-back ride.  In this photograph the chick's little stripey head can just be seen.

Now it's head is sticking up above the parent's wing feathers.  What a strange-looking face it has got!

From time-to-time, the other parent would bring a little fish for the chick.  I did not manage to get any photographs of it being fed, unfortunately.  Then the chick would be dropped off one parent's back and was floating around in the water for a little while before clambering onto the back of the other parent.

As, to me, both parents looked the same, I have no idea whether my photographs show the chick riding on the same parent or on each of them after change-over has taken place.

This is a photograph of a Great Crested Grebe parent on it's own.

Here are both parents, with the baby on the back of the windblown Great Crested Grebe on the right.

Now the parents are into a synchronised swimming routine, with the chick firmly bedded down between the parent's wings.  This is when they decided that enough feeding had taken place and they headed off across the Serpentine to the little island on the other side where their nest was located.

It was now getting quite late, about 18.00, but I couldn't resist taking a few more photographs before I went home.  This is a part-leucistic Greylag goose with white patches on it's face.

Here is a mute swan with yet another Great Crest Grebe.  I was fascinated by the difference in size.

I began this post with photos of beautiful foxgloves and mixed flowers and am ending it with more flowers. On my way out of the park, there were beautiful formal flower beds planted with tall white foxgloves, mauve flowers and purple and white violas.

I also loved these pale pink tall flower spikes - not sure what they are called.

What a great day in the park - incredible flowers together with young and old wildlife and lots of exercise for me and my camera.