Assorted wild and captive birds in Barnes Wetland Centre

 Oops!  I have not written on my blog for some time now, which is very remiss of me.  I am a retired silver-surfer and have no excuse, but I just don't know where the time goes.  Anyway, I am going to try and write more often, if I can.

Towards the end of June I spent several hours in the Barnes Wetland Centre, which is a great place to see both wild and captive birds.

The photograph below was taken from a hide in the wild-side area of the centre.  One of the birders in the hide very kindly pointed out to me that there was a Tern in the water in front of a group of gulls.  If he hadn't told me, I must admit that I would not have known it was there!  I took a few photographs and this is the best I could do.  The Tern was a long way away and I need a camera with a stronger lens - which I just cannot afford - so I am doing the best I can with the equipment I have got.  I would not even have this if my brother-in-law had not kindly donated it to me - for which I am extremely grateful and thus sparking an interest in taking photographs of birds!!

This photograph of a mute swan standing in the water and flapping it's wings was taken from a different hide.  The swan was also a long way away, but being a much bigger bird it can be seen more clearly.

Again in the distance, there was a Lapwing amongst the wild flowers in the grass.

It was the time of year when the water lilies were in flower in the ponds that line the paths around the Centre.

After leaving the wild part of the Wetland Centre, I went to look at the captive birds.  They are all very well looked after and are of great interest to all the school children that visit.

This is an Emperor Goose that is sitting on the wild-flower-filled grass.

Here are some Goldeneye ducks - one male at the front of the photograph and maybe two females with a juvenile at the back of the photo.

A couple of Smews were swimming around in one of the lagoons - black and white male and a female with a brown head.

In the same area there was a majestic male American Wood Duck with the most amazing plumage.  What a handsome bird!

There was also a female Tufted Duck with three tiny fluffy brown babies.

This is one of the two Bewick Swans that live in the Centre.  It is fairly young as the original pair of Bewick Swans that I have seen previously at the Barnes Wetland Centre were taken away some time ago and replaced with juveniles.

Here are a couple of unfriendly (or shy) White-necked cranes.  They obviously did not want me to take photographs of them and insisted on standing with their backs to the camera.

These are a group of Eider Ducks.  There is one male together with some females and juveniles.

I liked this Magpie Goose.  He/she has great orange legs!

This Fulvous Whistling Duck looks as though it is in prison, but I am on the same side of the bars!!

I had the amazing experience of seeing this leucistic young Mandarin duck.  It was standing on top of a wooden fence and I managed to slowly and quietly edge myself nearer and nearer while trying to take photographs of it.  Eventually I got too near and it flew off down to the water's edge of the lagoon.

It joined this normal-coloured Mandarin, who was not that happy to see it and soon shooed it off!

Not far away, at the edge of another part of the lagoon, were a couple of scruffy-looking Mandarin drakes.  They had started to go into eclipse and had lost part of their magnificent set of feathers.  These two really looked as though they needed a decent hairdresser!

In comparison, this common-or-garden boring Mallard drake still looks great with his green iridescent head, which is glowing in the late afternoon sunshine.  

Standing at the edge of the water were a Tufted Duck couple.  There are several little fluffy babies crouching on the ground near mum.

After several hours walking round the Wetlands, on my way out of the Centre, I came across this Brent Goose.  I had to look this one up in my Collins Bird Guide - I am still learning to differentiate between all the different types of birds that I photograph on my walks.

Well, that was another amazing day in the Barnes Wetland Centre and extremely good exercise.  I hope to visit there again before Christmas and will be interested to see what the difference in wildlife is there between summer and winter.