Flowers and wildlife seen during a birthday walk in St. James's Park in mid-April 2025

It was a sunny Spring day and the beautiful Cowslips were in flower

Gargi, the only Great White Pelican in the park that can fly, was a lonely figure standing by herself at the edge of the lake.  Her five Pelican friends were in the island enclosure and not allowed out due to the possibility of bird flu in the area.  Gargi, apparently, could decide whether to join them or not!

Nene/Hawaiian goose standing at the edge of the lake

Mute Swan on a nest at the far end of the lake

Grey Heron standing on a branch towards the top of a tree

Tulip city in the flowerbeds at the Horseguards Parade end of the park

Close-up view of a lovely blue Iris

Two Barnacle geese not looking at one another!

Pretty pink Cherry blossom on a tree at the other end of the park

White Ross's goose trying to hide away on the island in the lake

Bar-headed goose swimming on the lake

 

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.