Walk along part of river Thames to Battersea Park for wildlife watching - 29th December 2024

View of Battersea Power Station from Chelsea Bridge on a foggy day

The only pair of Mute Swans on the lake in Battersea Park - the cob is in front of the pen

I visited the park in order to see my favourite Mandarin ducks and they did not disappoint me

a Coot had to stand in front of the Mandarins!!!

Young Grey Heron standing on a branch in the pine tree

Pair of Northern Shovelers swimming across the lake

Two male Tufted ducks put on a good show

There were a few Herons in nests, but too far away to be seen

Bursting white berries

A Magpie showed off its lovely blue feathers

Grey Squirrel sitting on the path after approaching me and trying to climb up my leg - this was definitely not allowed!

Egyptian goose at the edge of the lake

Moorhen crossing the path of a pair of Gadwalls and a Little Grebe

View of Battersea Power Station and a Thames Clipper from the opposite side of the river

Misty view of the new American Embassy and other buildings - taken on my way home

 

Birds on ice in London's Battersea Park, Battersea Power Station and the view from Chelsea Bridge

Yesterday afternoon it was dry and not as cold as the last few days, so my camera decided to take me on another walk round the lake in Battersea Park.  It was a bit misty along the river Thames on the way to the park and quite overcast, so not really the best day for photography, but at least it was not raining.  On my way along the river I passed Battersea Power Station - now with a lot of work being done to it as it is converted into flats, etc.

This is a view of the power station through a motley-looking tree.

Below is a photograph of Chelsea Bridge, which I had to walk over in order to get to Battersea Park on the other side of the river.

Below is the view from Chelsea Bridge and shows the railway bridge over the river with a very misty Vauxhall Tower in the distance on the left-hand side and the new American Embassy (still under construction) on the right-hand side.

When I got into the park, I discovered that part of the lake was frozen over and birds were standing on the ice.  Here is a collection of dancing black-headed gulls.

This black-headed gull looks as though it is wondering what is going on and thinking how cold its feet are.

These two gulls are standing right near the edge of the ice.

Further round the lake there were amazing reflections of the trees in the ice and lots of twigs and sticks sitting on top of the frozen water. 

A very bemused-looking heron was standing on the ice - must be hard trying to fish in these conditions!

There were lots of black-headed gulls standing on the frozen water on the other side of the lake, behind the heron.

Here two coots are having trouble with walking on the ice.

There is a another small lake further round the park and there was a row of male and female Mallards standing on the ice in the middle of this.

There were patches of open water in the lake where I saw several pairs of Northern Shovelers and Gadwalls, a Cormorant, Great Crested Grebe, Tufted duck, a large collection of Coots and the park's resident Mute Swan family - pen, cob and 7 juvenile swans.  I hope to put photographs of them in another blog post when I have time.