Sunday 27 April 2014

The numerous young Herring Gulls are all over both lakes snatching anything they can find, from ice cream to ducklings. Here a group of them sees someone feeding the swans near the Dell and they rush off to grab the food.


They have taken two of the ten baby Egyptian Geese, and are masscring the young Mallards. I heard of four new ducklings on the Long Water, but by the time I saw them there were three. The sepia-coloured drake and his mate have lost their remaining two. Here they are resting sadly on a Coot nest, sending the Coot packing when it tried to reclaim its property.


The three young Coots in the small boathouse are protected from such raids. Here one of them wanders out of the nest to explore the wooden platform.


There were a Grey Wagtail and two Pied Wagtails hunting insects on the nets near the Lido. One of the Pied pair took a rest on a post and stared curiously at my camera.


I don't know why the Grey Wagtails bother to come here, so far from their home in the Dell, as the little stream near their nest is alive with small insects.

A Great Crested Grebe was looking for fish around the wire basket at the north end of the bridge and saw one emerge from the top. It charged over at lightning speed, zigzagging as the fish tried to dodge it, and surfaced triumphantly holding its catch.


The Tawny Owl was just visible in the nest tree, sitting high up on the north side. It took a long time to find him among the leaves, and this obstructed picture is the best I was able to take.

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