Mid-June wildlife in St. James's Park, London

In the middle of June I went for another walk around the lake in London's St. James's park.  Firstly I headed off to the end of the lake that is nearest to Trafalgar Square to see the park's 3 Pelicans.  I had just missed their feeding time at 14.30, so they were in preening mode on their rock in the lake.

I came across a Heron and a young Herring gull standing on the wooden bridge at the back of the little gingerbread-style house near the lake.

Nearby, sitting on the ground, was a light-coloured leucistic Mallard duck and a Fulvous-whistling duck.

The leucistic Mallard stared inquisitively at me and my camera.

A black swan was sitting nearby.

 So was a male Hooded Merganser.

This is a view of the wild flowers growing on the bank of the lake at the back of the little gingerbread-style house.

Round the corner there were some light-coloured Hollyhocks.

A bee was collecting pollen from the inside of the Hollyhock flowers.

Further round the other side of the lake I came across a Red-crested Pochard who was going into eclipse.

The cygnets had grown rather a lot since I last saw them and were now rather large and looking more swan-like.

An adult Mute swan was keeping an eye on the family of four juvenile cygnets.

A Bahama Teal was standing on one leg at the side of the lake.

It tried to doze off, but was still keeping a beady eye on what I was up to with my camera.

A black swan stood up and stretched it's wings.

The Bahama Teal gave up trying to sleep and joined it's pal in the water.

There were a couple of Mallards nearby - now in eclipse plumage so that they look more like the females.

A Bahama Pintail had a chat with a Mallard.  All seemed to end amicably!

A white Snow goose was looking very attractive as it posed under a tree near the lake.

At the other end of the lake, on a grassy area, a young Greylag gosling had a rest between eating.

The adult Greylag geese were giving me strange looks as I took photographs of their five big goslings.

There were several Greylag goose families in the area.  This juvenile gosling belongs to an earlier brood and was much larger than the goslings in the other family.  I like it's fluffy Mohican head-dress!

The geese moved onto the grass on the other side of the path.  They were joined by a hybrid Greylag goose with his Bar-headed goose partner and their one large gosling.

The hybrid Greylag was staring at me and had a blade of grass sticking out from it's beak.

Dad, mum and juvenile gosling hardly stopped eating.

Back on the lake there was a large juvenile Egyptian goose swimming around and enjoying the late afternoon sunshine.

A Snow goose had also gone for a swim in the shade under the trees.

A family of Starlings flew out from the undergrowth and landed near me at the edge of the lake.  All, except this bold youngster, immediately flew back under cover when I moved.

It had a drink.

Then it had a bath before flying back into the bushes to join the rest of it's family.

A very pretty Ruddy Shelduck was nearby in the lake.

Part of the lake was covered in green algae and the Snow goose was making slow progress swimming through it and back to wherever it spends the nights.