Toulouse geese in Exeter

I spent Christmas in Exeter and had a great time watching the Toulouse geese on the river Exe, which I visited several times.

On my first visit, a few of the geese were swimming along the river.  Below are three of the white geese.

There was a mixture of white and brown/grey geese in the water.

My next visit was in the morning on Christmas Day, when I came across a number of the geese waddling along the towpath at the edge of the river.

 I loved this pair of geese standing at the water's edge.

A group of the geese wandered across the path and waddled over the edge of the bank and into the water.

Two of the white geese marched across the towpath.

This small group spent some time admiring the grassy bank at the other side of the path.

This large brown Toulouse goose looks as though it is preparing to hold the carol service later in the day at Exeter Cathedral.  The young Herring gull looked rather bemused at the whole gathering and stared out across the river.

I love these large fat geese waddling slowly along the towpath.

This photograph shows a close-up of the head and neck of one of the geese.  I think it actually looks rather pretty!

This white goose has attitude!

Then the geese decided they had done enough waddling around and they all got into the river and swam off.

Bewick and Mute swans in a flap

The sun was shining during my last walk around Barnes Wetland Centre and the two Bewick swans that live there were taking advantage of a nice day for a bath. 

Things were very calm in this photograph of both swans floating around in the pond.

In this close-up of one of the Bewick swans, water droplets thrown up by flapping wings can be seen.

They started having a lot of fun splashing around in the pond with their large wings extended and making a lot of noise.

In another part of the wetlands, the Wild Side, a young mute swan cygnet was having a calm time floating around in the water.

Then it too decided to open it's wings and have a good old flap.

Bird walk in Wetlands of the World at Barnes Wetland Centre

Last November I spent many hours wandering around the Barnes Wetland Centre in London.  It was a cold sunny day and part of my walk was in the Wetlands of the World section of the site where the non-native birds are kept.

I was fascinated to see what I presume were the courting antics of male Hooded Mergansers.  The drake at the front of the photograph kept nodding his head and raising his beak into the air.

There were several drakes and just one female.  She was quietly dozing and taking no notice of the antics going on around her.

This is a young Bewick swan that was swimming around with a companion in the pond.

There was a light-coloured Egyptian goose standing on the turf wall at the edge of the Bewick swan's pond.  It was not very keen on me being quite so close.

It looked down at the ground and then jumped off the wall and ran away from me.  Funny how I seem to get that reaction from most of the birds that I manage to creep up to!

In another section of the centre I came across this large Black Spur-winged goose, which I believe was a fairly recent addition as I had not seen it on previous visits.

 Resting in the sunshine was a Fulvous Whistling duck.

Not far away a pair of White-facing Whistling ducks were having a very friendly preening session.

They were standing with a large group of other White-faced Whistling ducks.  Amongst them was one Black-bellied Whistling duck.

These are a couple of Hawaiian geese (Nene) that were also enjoying the winter sunshine.

A group of Emperor geese were enjoying a swim in a nearby pond.

Also swimming near the Emperor geese was a Barnacle goose and a Red-breasted goose.