Black-necked Grebe at Walthamstow Wetlands

 At the beginning of October my camera took me to Walthamstow Wetlands in the hope of seeing the Black-necked Grebe that had recently been spotted on one of the reservoirs.  We were unlucky during a previous visit a couple of weeks earlier, but this time we struck the jackpot!

The Grebe was on a fishing trip and I ended up following it along almost the whole length of the reservoir and managed to take several photographs when it was above water.  Fortunately, it was within reasonable distance for the range of my camera's zoom lens.

Eventually it turned tail and swam off to the other side of the reservoir - and out of my view!

Stand-off between dad Black Swan and soon-to-be dad Mute Swan in St. James's Park

About a week ago I went to St. James's Park to see what was happening with a pair of Black Swans that had a single cygnet.  Last time I saw them, both male and female swans were with their cygnet on newly-turfed grass near the children's play area.  This time only the female swan was there.  She seemed a bit unsettled and lonely and she kept making little "peep, peep" sounds.  I think that she was missing her mate.

Eventually she took to the water, followed by the cygnet.

I followed them round the lake and could see, in the distance, an aggressive male Mute Swan heading towards the little island in the centre of the lake.

The female Black Swan had found her mate, but trouble was brewing and the family had to quickly get onto the little island.

The Mute Swan had ruffled feathers and was hissing at the Black Swans, which were by now hiding in the shrubbery with their cygnet.

I wandered a little further round the lake and saw that the male Mute Swan's mate was sitting on a nest not far away from where the Black Swans were hiding on the island.

The Mute Swan was still on the water and the Black Swan was bravely standing there in front of him.

They both stayed in position for some time - with the Mute Swan swimming off every so often and then very quickly returning for a stand-off with the Black Swan.  He retreated into the shrubbery, but very quickly returned for another face-off!

He must have got fed up with the situation as he then started walking round the edge of the island, drawing himself up to his full height in a very intimidating way.

Black Swans are much smaller than Mute Swans, so he made sure to stay on land so that he would appear to be much larger!

Eventually the Mute Swan gave up and swam off - giving the male Black Swan an opportunity to swim off.  The cygnet had appeared out of the bushes, but stayed at the edge of the island waiting for mum to appear.

She was obviously still very wary of the Mute Swan and it took her some time to tentatively come out of hiding.

Somehow she did not seem to know where her mate had gone and, stupidly, swam backwards and forwards in the water near the island.

Once again, the aggressive Mute Swan was heading in her direction!

So mum and baby once again had to climb onto the island and hide in the shrubbery!

I could not stay any longer to see how long it would be before she managed to escape again and headed off in the direction I had come.  Sure enough, the male Black Swan was standing on the newly-turfed area where I had first seen the family.  I hope he went back to the little island and rescued his mate and their cygnet!

Redshank at Barnes Wetland Centre

In June I took my camera for a walk in Barnes Wetland Centre.  It was a sunny day and I had a great time there.

When I visited the Peacock bird hide, from which there is a view over the large lagoon, there was a group of birdwatchers gathered together at one side of the hide with their scopes and cameras with very long lenses trained on one area.  The excitement was that there was a lone Redshank on the site!  They very kindly pointed it out to me - letting me look down the scope and one even took a photo of the landscape on his mobile phone so that I could locate the area for myself.

I was not surprised that I had a hard time finding the lonely Redshank as it was almost hidden in the shrubbery!

The Redshank was some way in the distance, the photographs were taken using a long lens and then have been quite heavily cropped.

The birders sat and watched the one and only Redshank for some time and it just kept sitting there behind the shrubbery.  Eventually they gave up and went over to the other side of the hide and started watching something else.  I thought I would take one last look at the bird before I left and it had actually stood up, was preening it's feathers and gave me a view of it's red legs.

Then it very kindly put it's head up so I could take this photo.

The Redshank then walked off across the lagoon until it was even further away from the hide and posed gracefully between some plants that were growing in the water.  There was a Lapwing on the land in the background.  Both birds are reflected in the water.

I had gone to Barnes hoping to see a Redshank, but did not realise that there would only be one visiting the site that day.  I was incredibly lucky to have seen it and have to thank the lovely birdwatchers in the hide for pointing it out to me.

Parakeets, Magpie, Egyptian Goose and Blackbird in Hyde Park

Just before Christmas I went for a long walk in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.  Not long afterwards I wrote posts about the Tufted Ducks and Gadwalls I had seen there.  Now I am adding photographs of some other birds that were around at the time.

Not far from the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens people are always feeding the green Rose-ringed Parakeets.  In the below photograph, one of them is watching out for the next feed and can be seen perching in a bare-branched tree.

In this photograph there are 5 Parakeets, all looking out for the next tourist offering some food to them.

In the same tree there was a Magpie also, no doubt, waiting for some dinner to be offered to it.

On the other side of the lake, near the large Henry Moore statue, there were a pair of Egyptian Geese.  One of them was sleeping, with its back to me - so I didn't bother to take a photo of it.  This one is posing on one leg and has a nice array of feathers showing.

Towards the end of my walk round the park, I went through the rose garden.  There I came across a female blackbird.  Normally I can't manage to get very close to birds, but this one was very obliging and did not immediately fly away.  Perhaps it was hoping I would feed it?  I gather that other photographers go round the park with seeds, biscuits, etc. in order to entice the birds and water fowl near to them for close-up photos.  I will have to try that myself one day!

This is another photograph of the same female blackbird in a slightly different pose.  She was definitely not shy with me!

It was December in the rose garden and there were just a few roses in bloom.  I was actually quite surprised that any of them were flowering at that time of the year, but it had been very mild weather.

 In the rose garden there is a bird feeder that is supposed to be for the use of small birds.  Two naughty green Rose-ringer Parakeets were rocking around on it instead!  Poor tiny birds - the Parakeets probably eat all their food!

Tufted ducks in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens

 

During the week before Christmas I went for a long walk round the lake in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.  It seemed to be a day for Tufted ducks.

The first one I saw was on the Serpentine in Hyde Park - and I think he looks very handsome.

He spent a lot of time diving for food.  Unusually for me, instead of getting a photo of just disturbed water, I actually got a photo of his backside.  I like the fan-tail feathers in the photograph below.

At the other end of the park, in Kensington Gardens, there were several Tufted ducks on one of the ponds in the Italian Garden.  Here is a photograph of a drake.

Here is photograph of two drakes.

Here is a photograph of three drakes.

Now the picture is back down to two drakes.  I love the reflections in the water - almost as though it is on fire!

In this photograph there are three drakes again, with the one on the left-hand side splashing jets of water all over his pals!

On one of the other ponds in the Italian Garden, minding their own business and keeping well away from the boys, were a couple of female Tufted ducks.

Close-up encounter with foaming Great Crested Grebe

During my last visit to Hyde Park, which was at the end of May, a Great Crested Grebe was swimming near the edge of the lake. Usually when I see one, it is always in the centre of the water - so this was an opportunity not to be missed and I managed to take some close-up photographs of it.

It is a rather lovely waterbird and very handsome. I love the rust colour on it's head and, of course, it's crest.

It seems to be foaming at the mouth, however.

Does anyone know if this is a usual occurrence or is there something wrong with it?

Little Grebe on the lake in Kew Gardens

Yesterday I went with a friend for a stroll in Kew Gardens. We sat for a while on a bench right in front of the lake with an assortment of Egyptian Geese and Mallards asleep, or nearly so, at our feet.

I was intrigued by a little waterbird that was swimming around in the centre of the lake.  It was a Little Grebe.

 

It floated and swam around for a while and then swam off under the bridge and disappeared from sight. The reflection in the last photograph is from the unusual railings along the edge of the bridge.

Hooded Merganser in St. James's Park

In the early part of June, during one of my favourite walks in London's St. James's Park, I was thrilled to see a male Hooded Merganser.  At first he was preening his feathers.

Preening Hooded Merganser

Then he sat up and was looking intently at me as I was wobbling in a crouching position while trying to take photos of him.  I am no longer very athletic, nor ever was actually, and crouching is a dangerous thing for me to do.  I have read that photographers are supposed to get down low, even lying on the ground, in order to take good photos of birds - but I will never be able to do the lying-down thing!  Crouching is all I can manage and it is hard work standing back up again.

Hooded Merganser behind the greenery

Anyway, I was very pleased to see this rather unusual waterbird in the park.  I don't know if he was a wild bird or had escaped from a wildfowl collection as that is where I have seen Hooded Mergansers before - in the captive collections in Regents Park and the Barnes Wetland Centre.

Close-up of male Hooded Merganser

He has an amazingly weird shaped crested head, lovely black-and-white wing feathers and piercing yellow eyes.  What a magnificent looking bird!