A few birds from a walk round the gardens of Hall Place, Bexley

This year I have visited Hall Place in Bexley a few times.  I enjoy walking round the grounds and, at the beginning of July, I photographed a small selection of birds.

This photograph of a baby Robin was taken from the bird hide next to the river Cray.  It is listening to the sound of my camera.

Nearby there was also an older Robin with a red breast and mottled face.

I came across a Yellow Wagtail that was standing on a twig overlooking the weir.

At the back of the grounds a Mistle Thrush was gathering snacks for the youngsters in the nest.

Back at the bird hide I came across an inquisitive male Chaffinch.

A Blue Tit landed on a diagonal branch on its way to a bird feeder.

Sissinghurst ducklings emerge through the reeds

I was out with friends last night and at one point we were talking about lovely places to visit in the summer. One person mentioned Sissinghurst Castle in Kent. The garden was created in the 1930's by Vita Sackville-West, poet and gardening writer, and her husband Harold Nicolson, author and diplomat. Vita Sackville-West lived a very colourful life and was on the fringes of the infamous Bloomsbury Group.

Anyway, talking about it last night reminded me of my visit there a few years ago.  It, indeed, has a lovely garden, and I will try to remember to post some photos of it in the future. The event that I enjoyed a lot during my visit was seeing a mother Mallard and her little ducklings appear through the reeds, yellow irises and greenery at the edge of one part of the moat.

At first there was mummy Mallard and 2 little ducklings.

Then there were 4 little ducklings and, below, three of them are on the lawn and the other is just appearing through the long grass at the water's edge while the female Mallard looks on. 

Then there were 5 little ducklings and the female Mallard was starting to preen her feathers. 

At last all 6 little ducklings have come through the tall reeds and long grass and mum looks a bit distracted. 

They did not stay there for long and the female Mallard waddled off and took them swimming along another part of the moat at the end of the garden.