Blackbird in the park

Another day in the park - Regents Park again.  I went for a long walk round the lake in the Outer Circle and round the pond in the Inner Circle.  It was sunny and slightly windy, so a bit cool at times. It wasn't quite so peaceful as usual as there was a tree surgeon with a chainsaw working on a tree by the bridge over the lake near the Baker Street entrance to the park.  When he was cutting through the trunk with the chainsaw, it was very loud.  By the time I left the park several hours later, there was hardly anything left of the tree except for a stump.  I didn't bother to take any photographs of the tree and the workman - I was just annoyed he was there.  I had my lunch on a bench by the water and every so often was disturbed by the noisy geese, which was OK, and by the sound of the chainsaw, which wasn't.

Just inside one of the entrances to the park from the Inner Circle, I heard and then saw a blackbird in a tree. He was after the juicy berries or seeds and I disturbed him when I pointed my camera at him.

He flew down to the ground and hopped around in the grass. Here he is standing in the grass, near some leaves, a discarded feather and some daisies and he is looking at me with his beady yellow eye.

He flew back up to the tree and posed quite nicely for a short while, before disappearing into the centre of the tree where he could no longer be seen.

Egyptian Goose family in the daisies

In May the grass near the lake in the park was covered with white daisies and, from a distance, it looked just like snow.  During one of the days when I taking my camera for a walk (it's not as demanding as a dog, so I don't go out every day) I saw an Egyptian Goose with her babies.  Most of the youngsters were busy scouring the ground for food.

In the photo below, 2 goslings are on the left and the parent is keeping watch on what they are up to.

There are less flowers in this patch of grass and 3 Egyptian youngsters are still busy looking for food.

The parent now has it's back turned on the young Egyptians.  Two are still searching for food, while another two are having a rest in the "snow".

 It is time for one youngster to have a preen while the other is still on the look-out for a nibble.

One of the babies did not really join in the food search and spent the whole time resting and in a world of it's own.

Eventually the parent got annoyed with the crowd that had formed on the path in front of the family and started some loud quacking, which sent the youngsters through the nettles and into the water.  They were joined by a wandering Coot or Moorhen - I can't really tell which one it is from the view of it's back.

Then the parent also hot-footed it away from the watchers on the path and left us with just a patch of daisies.

Geese in white, heron in green

I have just enjoyed a walk in the sunshine round a lake.

I came across a couple of Greylag Geese that looked as though they were sitting in the snow - the ground was covered with white daisies.

Greylag Geese in a field of snowy daisies

 Nearby, a heron was standing in the green water, which was full of algae.

Heron standing in water full of green algae