Today was my Mum's 94th Birthday and we decided we would take her for a walk around one of our Childhood haunts; namely Valentine's Park in Ilford, Essex. I took my camera and managed to photograph some of the inhabitants and their young, as we took our walk. This rubbish filled Coot nest, which sadly only had one surviving chick, was on the main boating lake. There are many very large Carp in the lake, as well as Swans, Herons and quite a number of large Gulls, so the predators must have taken the rest of the brood. Not the best place for a nest.
I'm just going to have a quick preen, you had better tidy up your room before I'm finished!
That's not fair! It's not all MY mess!
Stupid rubbish nest!
Looks like she didn't notice
Maybe I'll just sneak off...
Two Mallard Ducklings at the far end of the Boating Lake
Plus Mum & Dad. I imagine they had more siblings at one point, just like the little Coot.
This female was one of three light coloured Mallards on the same stretch of water. The other two did have a more distinct 'blue flash' than this one but they all had a similar mix of Mallard + A.N.Other. Any ideas what the other genes might be?
Bottoms Up? Not in front of the children!
The rest of the Coot family, this time with five healthy chicks.
A brief clip of them foraging amongst the reeds. Clearly this is a safer location than the open lake.
Here's a familiar face just for Hazy!
Another of the Mallard variations. They look too nice to be referred to as 'Manky Mallards'!
And a third 'blonde' Mallard female
The 'standard livery' version
More young Coots
Just a few yards away from the Coots...
What do we have here...?
Canada Geese & Goslings of course
Bundle!!
Dad. Very patient and ever vigilant.
The five young-ish Egyptian Geese shuffling around
A Collared Dove arrived and had a brief forage
The three with darker head plumage eventually moved to the right...
The two with lighter coloured heads went to the left. Did they separate into male and female groups?
Unicum arbustum haud alit duos erithacos
(One bush does not shelter two Robins)
Zenodotus (3rd Century B.C.)
Hope your mum enjoyed her birthday! Great way to spend it walking round the park with her son looking at all the ducklings and goslings! You've got some great photos there MC. When I go walking with my friend at this time of year we always look at the Canada gosling looking sooo cute and wonder why they have to grow up!!! (Only joking of course - I think!)
See my Flickr photos here
https://www.flickr.com/photos/115745582@N04/
Another beautiful set MC and congrats to your Mum on her 94th Birthday, looks like you all had a lovely day in Valentines Park and got to see a lot of new baby chicks :) As for Cyril photo, that's so kind of you !! I counted 12 in our garden this morning lol
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Regards, Hazel