What a lovely afternoon we had when we finally made it to Regent's Park on Wednesday. I'd been here once before but it was Limpy's first visit - here's hoping it will be the first of many.
We hadn't yet caught up with the others when Limpy spotted this gorgeous bird pottering about - it had just caught some lunch:
All gone:
What nicer greeting could we have had?
This young crow doesn't quite have the same vocal knack as a robin:
I don't see red-breasted geese very often:
I see hand feeding of barnacle geese even less:
The little grebe finally posed:
This grey heron kept a beady eye on me as it preened:
Another one, with a distinctly punky attitude:
A classically subtle look from this greylag goose:
Inevitably, there were gulls about. This lesser black-backed gull is being determinedly ignored by its companion:
As close to an orderly queue as they get:
This particular gull caused some discussion. It looks too dark to be a herring gull but it's got pink legs:
No doubting this is a young black-headed gull:
What is it with Canada geese and their tongues?
For some reason the pigeons seemed to love Monkeycheese:
A lovely, chilled out pochard:
A pretty moorhen..........
.............and a weirdly-toed coot. I love the feet of both birds:
I can't remember what this duck is, but isn't it beautiful?
A gorgeous male eider:
Posing:
I don't know what this duck is either but I loved the vocals:
Side view:
I don't usually snap these but as I had Hazy with me it had to be done:
There were parakeets all over the place:
Back to our natives:
Finishing with a blackbird in alarmed mode:
Our herring gulls are red listed birds. Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.
Thanks, Clare, wonderful photos of many of the sightings of the day! Are you saving the Crow in the dead tree for your fave three for September?! It was great to see you and Limpy, MC, and Hazy and Mike, despite the various transport delays! Lovely to watch MC gaining the trust of an ailing Pigeon. Mr GB and I had a lovely day, wandering a few of the paths of the park, seeing whatever was about, and chatting with you and the other Forumates. No Golden Eagles or other highly unusual sightings (despite the insistence of Mr GB that he'd seen one--but I'm used to this, he sees a Golden Eagle in the back garden during the Big Garden Bird Watch whenever I've taken a break!)
Kind regards, Ann
I'm sorry I was unable to join you all on this occasion but I had a medical appointment which I was unable to rearrange. Next time hopefully.
Lovely set of photos, Clare. My favourite is the Jay popping the acorn in its gular pouch which it will no doubt bury somewhere for the lean times ahead.
The thing about the London parks is that birds are so used to people you can get much closer to them than would otherwise be the case.
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Tony
My Flickr Photostream
Hope to see you next time, TJ. Shame you could not change your appointment--hope all is well with you.
Very nice pictures Clare, and I do hope its just moult on that Blackbirds head it looks a right mess.
Jim
My Pictures
My Fbook Group
And forgot to say Paul, loves any birds landing on his hands.
Great set of shots Clare looks like you all had a great day, such a shame I missed it even more so when the hospital cancelled my eye appointment at short notice due to the specialist being ill. I am with TJ I also love the Jay shots one bird we never get in the garden.
Regards Shane
My Photos in Flickr.
Shane said:Great set of shots Clare looks like you all had a great day, such a shame I missed it even more so when the hospital cancelled my eye appointment at short notice due to the specialist being ill.
We need to do these more often.
Thanks Clare and your right we used to have more "meets" a while ago but they seem to died own to almost zero.
Where shall we go next?
It took us about three hours to get from our local station to Regent's Park - on that basis we can technically travel to slightly more distant reserves to meet up with people. That potentially puts the south east coast as well as Lincolnshire within our reach.
Thanks for posting your beautiful photos Clare, from your day out. They are lovely and all with different colours. Glad Limpy managed the trip and hope is doing okay. It must have been great to finally meet the people that we speak with on here, such a pity that I am at the very top and would probably take 12 hours and an overnight sleeper! It was nice to meet you Clare and MC now that I have seen your photos. All we need now is for Hazel to add her's.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.