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.

2 herons in the Thames

On Saturday I had a very disappointing afternoon. I had decided to go for another walk in Battersea Park but, when I got there, I discovered that the park was closed because there was a motor racing event being held there on both Saturday and Sunday. The roads inside the park were being used as a circuit for electric racing cars and it was out-of-bounds for non-paying pedestrians. In fact, the park will be closed until at least Wednesday while all the barriers, video screens, catering tents, etc. are dismantled.

The only section of the park open for the general public was the pedestrian area along the river edge. Barriers had been put up to stop people from going into the rest of the park and large video screens that were showing broadcasts of the race could be just seen from outside. Some people had climbed the steps up onto the Pagoda that is in the centre of the river path and were watching the race for free from there. I did not bother to go up and look as it was very crowded and I was not really interested in seeing electric racing cars.

It was very noisy as the cars went past, but not as noisy as Formula 1, and I felt very sorry for the waterfowl with families that were stuck inside the park, as they would have been unable to fly away unless they left their young behind.

As I was there, I decided to walk along part of the Thames Path and look for wildlife. Right at the edge of the park, there were 2 herons in the river. They were a long way down from the path, but I took some photographs of them anyway - as I had gone out in order to take photographs of birds. I really wanted to see the waterfowl on the lake, but was denied the pleasure.

Perhaps these two herons lived in the park and had temporarily moved out in order to get away from the noise?

I think that both herons were looking for fish, but they did not catch any while I was there. The heron in the photograph below is paddling near the edge of the river.

I was leaning over the wall that runs along the pathway between the park and the river, with the herons at the edge of the River Thames that was way below me.

The second heron was either shorter in height or the water was deeper as it is up to it's tummy in the river.

In the photograph below, you can see how far away the heron is from me. The white flowers (Cow Parsley) are growing on the bank that is just below the bottom of the wall.   

The herons were really the only wildlife I saw on my walk - apart from one seagull and about three cormorants. They were in a dark area, so not worth photographing. There was a short shower while I was walking, but it did not last very long. I got as far as Wandsworth, then decided to get a bus back to Victoria. While on the bus, the heavens opened and it was raining very heavily when the bus reached it's destination. I had to run into a shop doorway and shelter until the rain eased off and I could get to Victoria Underground station.