April wildlife in Regent's Park

On a sunny day towards the end of April my camera took me on another walk in a London park.  This time it was a visit to Regent's Park.  I began my walk along the narrow part of the lake where lots of herons can usually be found.  In fact the first bird that I encountered was a grey heron that was standing among the daisies on the grass.

It opened it's beak in amazement when it saw me.

Then it turned it's back on me.  A group of people were photographing a model nearby and, suddenly, one of the girls decided to creep up on the heron and take photos of it on her camera phone.  She's behind you!!  Understandably it got very annoyed with the attention and flew away.

A little further along the lake there were some juvenile Egyptian goslings.  This one was waddling along the path at the edge of the water.  It now looks very Egyptian goose-like but with very scraggy-looking fluff and feathers.

It's siblings were cooling off by lounging around with their feet in the water.

They then decided that it was bath-time and had lots of fun splashing around in the cool lake water.

I walked all round the narrow lake that is on one side of the park, crossed back across the bridge and began my walk round the main lake where I came across three very young Egyptian goslings.

A little further along the lake I came across three more young Egyptian goslings that were standing near a daisy-covered patch of grass.

Floating along on the lake was a Pochard drake

and his female companion.

Nearby, on the bank, was a starling with amazing feathers and a bright yellow beak.

A grey heron was goose-stepping along the edge of the water near a Canada goose and some Coots.

This part of the lake was covered with Herring gulls - here a juvenile is either taking off or has just landed.

In the centre of the park there is an area of the lake that is reserved for the park's collection of waterfowl.  There is a bridge over the lake at the beginning of this area and is where the following photographs were taken - so they are mainly looking down at the birds.

Here is a male Eider and a female Eider duck companion.

A handsome Northern Pintail drake.

A male Ringed Teal.

On the grass at the side of the lake there was a white Ross's goose.

Here is a Northern Pintail drake with his female companion.

At the top of the photograph is a male Smew.  I think that the other duck is a female Wigeon, but I am not absolutely positive.

Here there are two Fulvous Whistling ducks at the front of the photograph.  I don't know what brand of duck is swimming along at the back of the photo - can someone please enlighten me?

This one is a male European Goldeneye.

Here are two White-faced Whistling ducks.  I love the reflections in the water in this picture.

Further along the lake, three coots were fighting - watched in disbelief by a Goldeneye drake.

This is a Chestnut Teal drake.

This is a female Hooded Merganser.

In this photograph she is having a bath.

At the top of the photograph is a female Hooded Merganser, followed by a European Goldeneye drake.  Then in the centre is a Bufflehead drake (I think!) and on the right is a Hooded Merganser drake.  I must admit that it is driving me mad trying to identify some of these ducks!

Back to more familiar territory!  Here, early in the rose garden, a Mallard drake is admiring the rose bed and wondering when the wonderful roses will be out!

On the pond in the Inner Circle there was a beautiful black swan sailing along in water filled with reflections.

A black swan couple live here and they are both admiring their reflections in the water.

Standing under a tree by the pond was a wonderfully-feathered and coloured Mandarin drake.

 I left the Inner Circle pond and wandered back to the park's main lake.  Here, on the top of a willow tree, there was a large nest that contained an adult grey heron and a juvenile heron.  I was lucky that my camera has got a fairly decent zoom on it as you could not actually see what was in the nest without having a pair of binoculars (which, of course, I had left at home).

After I had walked round the rest of the main lake and crossed the bridge from where I began my journey, I was going to head off for Baker Street underground station and home.  However, I looked towards the narrow lake where I had started my walk and saw a Great Crested Grebe swimming along the water.  So I got the camera out again and took some more photographs in the early evening sunshine.

Here the Great Crested Grebe is swimming in front of the much larger Mute swan.

There were reflections from the willow tree in the water and cow parsley on the bank.

A mute swan makes it's way along the lake.

Here a mute swan is taking advantage of a willow leaf feed.

The Great Crested Grebe is under the willow tree on the left while the swan is having an early supper.

A grey squirrel has got a peanut, or similar, in it's mouth.

In this photograph, the tree rat is trying out a very cute pose amongst the pretty cow parsley.

I was glad that I spent some extra time in the park as two Little Grebes also appeared.

In this slightly blurred photograph, one of them has caught something during one of it's dives.

Finally, a Red Crested Pochard swam by through the reflection of a tree trunk in the lake.

As usual, Regent's Park contained lots of great wildlife and I very much enjoyed my afternoon there.

Norfolk wildlife

I am still trying to catch-up with posts on my blog and am now up to just after mid-April when I went to East Anglia for a few days.  The following photographs were taken during a short walk along the River Yare in the outskirts of Norwich.

There I saw an aggressive Mute Swan with it's wings up in the air.

A female Mallard on the bank of the river was protesting quite loudly.

Well she might as she was being surrounded by several Mallard drakes.

On the river, swimming alongside a Mute swan, was quite a strange-looking Mallard drake with long curly tail feathers.

I believe he is a hybrid Mallard/Northern Pintail mix.

Across the river, standing on the roof of a shed, was a white dove.  There was a dovecote nearby.

A day later I went for another walk in Wroxham/Hoveton, which are in the Norfolk Broads.

There were more aggressive Mute swans there - I guess it was the season for aggression!

A robin obligingly posed for me at eye level on the branch of the tree at the side of the boardwalk at the edge of the river.

It was very pretty along the river.  Tree cutting had been taking place on the opposite side of the river and logs were nearly piled up.  I love the reflection of the trees in the water.

A swan was sailing elegantly in the distance.

Another Mute swan accompanied me on my walk along the path at the side of the river.

So did a very attentive Greylag goose.  They were both expecting to be fed but, sadly, I had nothing with me that was suitable for giving them.

As I was in an area of the Norfolk Broads, every so often a cruiser sailed by.

Here a couple of aggressive Mute swans are sailing hastily past the neat piles of logs on the opposite bank.

There was only a short walk possible along the river and I came to this handy sign at the point of no return!

I had no option but to turn round and repeat my steps.  Back on the boardwalk I came across a singing robin - possibly the same friendly bird that I had met when I began my walk.

As I was sitting on a bench in order to eat my lunch, I saw a male blackbird gathering lunch for his family hidden in the bushes.  He certainly had managed to collect a beakful!

Later the same day I went for a walk in a local nature reserve - Thorpe Marshes.  To get to the reserve, I had to cross the railway line and here is the large local train.

Unfortunately there was not much wildlife around within viewing distance and I really needed a pair of binoculars, which I did not have with me.  There was a very informative board by the lagoon, which showed all the birds that I was not seeing!

A couple of the usual suspects sailed past a fallen tree on the river Yare.

Another cruiser headed along the river and past the bare-branched trees.

At the end of the walk, in the distance, there were a couple of Mallards with their large brood of baby ducklings.  Once again, too far away for a decent photograph - but at least this one reminds me of them swimming across the river.

Animal and birds in Weymouth and Devon

For a change, on Easter Monday (17th April), my friend decided to drive to Weymouth in Devon just for the day and invited a couple of friends and myself to join her.  It was a long trip from London and she definitely needed some company during the drive.

We wandered for a little while round the harbour when we first arrived and then headed for the beach.  Here we found Weymouth's obligatory donkeys, who were waiting patiently for someone to come and ride them.

In the background, near the edge of the sea, there is a little girl having a ride on one of the donkeys.

A carrion crow was wading through the sand - waiting for friends to join in with building some sand castles!

We stopped to have a cup of tea at a beach front cafe and it was just about warm enough to sit outside.  In the distance I could see a horse and rider carved on the cliff.

We only stayed a short while in Weymouth before moving on to a small nearby Devon village - the very pretty Sutton Poyntz - where my friend wanted to lay flowers on the graves of her parents and sister.  Before she did that, she led us round the back of the road and houses and along a narrow stream that ran through the back part of the village.

Here there were lots of pretty plants.

Euphorbia 

Arum lilies in front of an old mill wheel

Forget-me-knots

Back onto the small main road that ran through the village there was a very relevant road sign!

Swimming along the main stream that ran through the village was a female mallard.

Here she is with her partner mallard drake.

There was also a large hybrid mallard drake in the stream.

It was now early evening and swallows were flying around, showing the first signs of Spring.  Here one was sitting on a wire.  Apologies for the bad quality photograph, but it was very high up and the light was not great.

My friend left us at the local pub - The Springhead - which had a very relevant logo.

We sat outside as it was, surprisingly, warm enough to do so.  Here the Springhead's dog guards the front door!

 This is a view from the table where we were sitting of the willow trees that were hanging over the stream.

There was a real dog paddling in the water, which no doubt drove all the ducks away!

It was a great day out, but a very long journey, and I did not get back home until about 10.30 p.m.