Mid-March bird walk in Regents Park

On 13th March the sun was shining and, in the afternoon, I went for another walk in Regents Park.  I walked into the park from the entrance that is the nearest to Baker St underground station and, at the bridge that crosses the lake, I turned right to walk along the path that runs along the narrower part of the lake.  I had not gone far when I came across a family of Egyptian Geese - mum, dad and at least eight baby goslings.  It was hard to count them as they were running about all over the place.

This is a close-up of one of the Egyptian goslings with some lovely fluffy feathers.

Sitting under a nearby tree was a beautiful Whooper swan.

I like it's lovely yellow and black beak.

There was also a Moorhen running around on the grass in front of the yellow and white daffodils.

I went round to the other side of the lake and the Egyptian Goose family had wandered down to the water's edge.  In this photograph there are nine baby goslings - six on the bank and three in the water.

Mum was leading the goslings along the edge of the water with dad at the rear.  Suddenly he took off and flew across the water to my side of the lake.  Some people near me were feeding other birds and he had obviously decided to join in.

 As I walked along this side of the lake, I saw a Canada Goose standing near a single daffodil.

It was wandering around and this is a close-up photograph taken whilst it was standing in front of several bunches of daffodils.

I then wandered round the larger main part of the lake.  There I saw a female Pochard.

Also a Black-headed Gull with a speckled face.

For a change, a Great Crested Grebe was swimming fairly near to the edge of the water instead of being in the middle of the lake.  I managed to get a much closer shot of it in the sunlight.

The Great Crested Grebe kept diving and here it has surfaced with something, probably a small fish, in it's beak.  Unfortunately it came up behind a Black-headed Gull, so I have got it's back-view in the photograph too.

I also saw some male Pochards.  This is a photograph of one of the drakes with a beady red eye watching me.

I am not very good with action photos and this is the best I could do as this heron took off in front of me.  I like it's long dangly legs as they are just leaving the ground.

I walked all round the lake and, when I reached the other side, I came across this handsome Barnacle Goose.

Here the Barnacle Goose is doing the goose-step!

I also walked round the pond that is set in Regent's Park inner circle.  There I came across a pair of Black Swans.  The female is sitting on a poor excuse for a nest, with the male nearby keeping an eye on her.

The nest is very flat on the ground and does not contain many twigs.  I hope that they can do better than this!

Also in this area was a male Tufted Duck with a lovely bright yellow eye.  He definitely looks as though he is smiling!

I liked this rather military-looking Mallard drake standing to attention by the side of the tree.

 I love exotic-looking Mandarin ducks and was very pleased to find this couple.  The extraordinary-looking drake was in the water while his very beautiful partner was preening her feathers on the bank.

 What a very cute couple they make!  I love their very sweet-looking eyes.

Finally I came across a pair of fighting Moorhens - one was chasing the other all around the plants and in and out of the water.

Another great walk with lots of interesting wildlife.  I feel very lucky that there are several nearby parks in London so that I can easily get away from the traffic, have some exercise, see some wildlife, take lots of photographs and have a relaxing time.

Birds in the Regents Park Waterfowl Collection

At the beginning of March I went for a walk with my camera round the lake in Regents Park.  Actually I did not take many photographs of the usual park birds, but spent some time on the bridge that divides the main lake from the water where the park's Royal Waterfowl Collection of more exotic waterfowl are kept.  These species are normally found in Europe (and at the Barnes Wetland Centre in West London).

I believe the duck in the photograph below is a female Northern Pintail.

This is a Northern Pintail drake.  The photographs had to be taken from the bridge dividing the two areas of the lake, so I had to look down on the birds.  The area where the collection is housed is protected from the public by iron railings and I am not stupid (or fit) enough to climb over them!

After some research by consulting a whole heap of bird guides that I have accumulated over the years, I have discovered that below is a Bufflehead.

In the photo below are male and female Common Goldeneyes.

These are male and female Eurasian Wigeon.

Here are a couple of Red-Billed Teal.

 This is a Shelduck.

On the grass by the side of the lake there was a Pink-Footed Goose.

Nearby were a pair of White-Faced Whistling ducks.

There were also a group of Eider ducks.  In this photo, at the front, is a female and, at the back, is a juvenile.

Here the Eider family are being harassed by the two White-Faced Whistling ducks, while a black-headed gull looks on.

These two female Eider ducks are relaxing in the late afternoon sunshine.

In this photo are the male and juvenile Eiders.  What peculiar faces they both have!

I love walking round the park, but I think it has taken longer to try and figure out the bird brands than it did to walk all round the lake!

Lots of early March wildlife in London's St. James's park

Another catch-up blog post - this time it is about early March wildlife in London's Saint James's Park.  It was a lovely sunny afternoon and I went into the park near the St. James's Park underground station.  When I reached the bridge over the lake, I started walking in a clockwise direction towards Buckingham Palace.

The first wildlife I came across was a family of Mute Swans and their teenage cygnet youngsters.  Here a juvenile swan is wondering what I am doing with my camera.  A black-headed gull (without the black head) is standing in the water behind the swan.

A parent Mute Swan and another very sleepy cygnet youngster are in this photograph.

Just behind the Mute Swan family there was a Black Swan, who was starting to become a little aggressive.

Then I met a black-headed gull with a black head - it is now wearing its breeding plumage and very smart it looks!

Further round the lake I met Mr. Mallard with his amazing iridescent green head.

There were some Red-Breasted Geese nearby - one striding along the edge of the lake and the other being chased away by a third goose (not in the photo).

When I rounded the edge of the lake near to Buckingham Palace, I came across a goose-stepping Greylag Goose in front of a carpet of purple crocuses.  I hope it was not tripped up by the twig on the ground!

Also in the area was a Barnacle Goose with its beak in the ground - no doubt it was searching for a tasty morsel in the grass.

I also saw a handsome Carrion Crow hopping around in the grass.

In the water at this section of the lake there was a Little Grebe.

In fact there were two Little Grebes.  They were a bit too far away for a decent photograph, but I tried anyway.

I then carried on walking along the Mall side of the lake back to the central bridge across the water.  I think this is a Ruddy Shelduck.  I am still in learning mode as to make and model of ducks and geese, so am looking up their pictures in Collins Bird Guide, which has been very useful.

I went past the bridge and walked on towards the cafe at the Trafalgar Square end of the lake.  Before I got there, I saw some more wildlife.  Now I do know what these two are - male and female Egyptian Geese.  They are trying, unsuccessfully to hide in the swatches of beautiful daffodils that were growing in the grass on the other side of the path that goes round the lake.

They were hiding a secret - a lone young Egyptian gosling - and the first baby bird that I had seen this year.  This was very early in March and I do hope it survived.

Here mum and baby have their heads down and are searching for something to eat.

A nearby Moorhen has succeeded in digging up a worm!

Past the cafe and round the other end of the lake, I saw a Heron modelling in front of a bed of reeds that were blowing around in the wind.

Round the corner and just before the park's gingerbread house,  I came across a second family of Mute Swans.  Here a juvenile cygnet is stretching its wings.

An adult Mute Swan has its head under its wing in a yoga pose.  The early evening sun is shining on one side of its body.

Now the swan is preening its feathers and showing off one of its black feet.

Here come an aggressive mob of Red-Crested Pochards swimming very quickly across the lake.

I think this is a female Mallard standing on one leg.

This Pochard drake is giving me the red-eye!

I believe this is a female Pochard.  She is airing her wings in the early evening sun

Here I also saw a lovely black-and-white Smew.  It was difficult to get it to pose for me and this is the best photo I could manage.

 Another Pochard was having a rest by the grating.  There are feathers sticking out of its back and it seemed to be hobbling a little, so it probably wasn't very well.

This is a photograph of the park's gingerbread house in the late afternoon sunshine.  There is a heron standing on the top of a turret at the right-hand side of the photograph.

Past the gingerbread house, I came across a sleepy juvenile Bar-Headed/Greylag Goose youngster.

Also, a sleepy Bar-Headed Goose parent (probably the mother).

A little further on were a couple of white Snow Geese.

One of them decided to go for a walk.

After these wildlife sightings, I carried on back to the central bridge across the lake and left the park by the same entrance I had come in by.  There were certainly a lot of different birds to see that day.   I took hundreds of photographs and had a very lovely walk.