Contrasts - birds, ice and daffodils

On Sunday I went for another walk in St. James's Park - though I must admit I nearly turned round and went back home as it started raining while I was on the way there.  I hung around Victoria for a little while, trying to decide what to do, and then the rain stopped - so I went for it!  I was glad I did as the lake was still partly frozen over as a result of the appalling weather London had last week.  It is not often we get snow and, unfortunately, I did not manage to go out in it.  Looking out at it through the window was enough for me!

This is a very wintry view of the lake from the bridge that goes across the centre to the Trafalgar Square end of the lake.  There was a lot of ice on this side of the water and the gulls were looking very bemused at the situation.

Some gulls were standing on the water.  I believe these are juvenile herring gulls of varying ages and a couple of smaller black-headed gulls.

A juvenile mute swan, nearly fully-grown now, was standing on the ice and flapping it's wings.

The large cygnet looked around with interest at the various gulls standing, walking and slipping across the ice.  Here it looks at though a black-headed gull is standing on the swan's back!

Even in icy conditions, coots get very aggressive.   These three were chasing one-another across the ice and in the water - fluffing up their feathers and standing bum-to-bum in annoyance!

A young herring gull started skating across the ice and almost did the splits.

The ice did not appear to have been as thick on the other side of the lake and it had all melted at the end of the lake by Buckingham Palace.

As I walked along the side of the lake towards the Palace, I could see lots of black-headed gulls standing on the frozen water.

There were also some Greylag geese on the ice, which made their pink legs and beaks show up much more than normal.  A coot was tentatively strutting across the ice.

At the front of the photograph, a young herring gull looked as though it was skating.  A Greylag goose flapped it's weeks, whilst it's companion carried out a bit of maintenance preening.

On the other side of the lake, a black swan was standing in the water right at the edge of the ice.  It was flapping it's wings and had a small white feather stuck to it's beak.  I wonder who it had been nipping?

My feet are cold!

Now for an amazing contrast to my very wintry-looking photographs.  On the grass at one side of the lake, there was a host of golden daffodils - making everything look just like Spring.  A one-footed Egyptian goose was doing a balancing act in front of the flowers.

It's partner was doing a disappearing act amongst the daffodils.

Eventually, the almost invisible goose came out into the open and both geese were working on their one-legged balancing acts!

Opposite the circus-training Egyptian geese, there were even more daffodils right by the edge of the water.  Two Greylag geese were practising their own circus act amongst the daffodils.  Across the lake, on the other side of the water, the ice was still frozen and it was holding a collection of various gulls which were practising their skating skills.

One goose was trying to sing!

They both did a lot of head-bobbing.

They were joined by some friends, plus an inquisitive coot.

But they ignored their pals and continued with their head-bobbing amongst the daffodils.

Needless to say, regardless of the weather, my camera and I enjoyed a great walk.