Bewick's swan.
Coot. Not a great picture, but it has atmosphere.
Coot's arse. *snigger*
Never seen that many crows together... usually if you see a group of big black corvids, they're rooks. But these are definitely carrion crows.
More duck porn. Mallards at it this time. I feel sorry for the female - the male looked like he was enjoying it though.
Greylag goose (it really is one this time!) and Canada goose. They've definitely formed a pair bond - we wondered whether the two species could interbreed, and what the offspring would look like. Apparently they can, and
here's what it looks like.
Feral pigeon.
Probably my best shot of the day. A male goldeneye with two females, nice little threesome. They were charging up and down the pond. Michael got a pic of a male at Carsington last weekend, but mine is better. ;) The one he got was diving a lot though, so much harder to catch. Funky-looking birds.
A bit dark, but I love these guys so I had to post this one. Great crested grebes, which never fail to make me excited for no real reason. I'd love to see them doing their courtship thing, they dance together holding either end of a bit of weed, and give each other presents like a stone, a twig, a crisp bag, romantic stuff like that.
Another bird I like, the grey heron. I love how they stand so still, or stalk through the water and suddenly stab at a fish. And all those unnecessary hangy feathers. A coot in the foreground, and some shovellers to the right.
Lots of gulls. Mostly black-headed gulls. The big chap at the back is a great black-backed gull, and it's entirely possible that the common gull Pete spotted is in there too.
Another one of my favourites, a little grebe, moving very fast. We heard pairs duetting together lots of times. Cute. :)
Mute swan. Big, beautiful, and too dangerous to mess with.
Bewick's swan.
Coot. Not a great picture, but it has atmosphere.
Coot's arse. *snigger*
Never seen that many crows together... usually if you see a group of big black corvids, they're rooks. But these are definitely carrion crows.
More duck porn. Mallards at it this time. I feel sorry for the female - the male looked like he was enjoying it though.
Greylag goose (it really is one this time!) and Canada goose. They've definitely formed a pair bond - we wondered whether the two species could interbreed, and what the offspring would look like. Apparently they can, and here's what it looks like.
Feral pigeon.
Probably my best shot of the day. A male goldeneye with two females, nice little threesome. They were charging up and down the pond. Michael got a pic of a male at Carsington last weekend, but mine is better. ;) The one he got was diving a lot though, so much harder to catch. Funky-looking birds.
A bit dark, but I love these guys so I had to post this one. Great crested grebes, which never fail to make me excited for no real reason. I'd love to see them doing their courtship thing, they dance together holding either end of a bit of weed, and give each other presents like a stone, a twig, a crisp bag, romantic stuff like that.
Another bird I like, the grey heron. I love how they stand so still, or stalk through the water and suddenly stab at a fish. And all those unnecessary hangy feathers. A coot in the foreground, and some shovellers to the right.
Lots of gulls. Mostly black-headed gulls. The big chap at the back is a great black-backed gull, and it's entirely possible that the common gull Pete spotted is in there too.
Another one of my favourites, a little grebe, moving very fast. We heard pairs duetting together lots of times. Cute. :)
Mute swan. Big, beautiful, and too dangerous to mess with.
Posts
Very beaty
ReplyDeleteHi Anna,
ReplyDeleteJust looking at your photos and see that the 'goldeneye' is a male Barrow's Goldeneye! Is Barnes a home to captive wildfowl? If not this duck could do with some serious consideration...
Hi Stewart, welcome!
ReplyDeleteYeah, Barnes does have some captive birds, and it was with them. Obviously I thought it was a common goldeneye (especially as I've never heard of Barrow's goldeneye!) but now I look at it, the head is purple rather than green. After some googling for pictures, I still can't tell the difference in the females of the two species though.
I'm horribly jealous after reading a bit of your blog... you get to see so many fantastic birds, and you get great pictures too!
Cheers Anna. Your mystery birds are Hooded Mergansers, Hottentot Teal and Speckled Teal ( the Ruddy lookalikees picture). I'm so pleased we dont get so many ornamental ducks on our ponds. They could have us running around like headless chickens!
ReplyDeleteS...
Really enjoyed the photos, especially the Great Crested Grebes. I was lucky enough to see a pair going through their courtship routine when I was visiting family down in Cambridgeshire. Really fantastic. Of course I did not have a camera!
ReplyDelete