Saturday 3 February 2018

It was my first day back in the park after injuring my ankle, and most of the old favourites turned out to meet me. The female Little Owl near the Albert Memorial wasn't visible at first, but after a few seconds she came out to the front of her hole, looked at me with one eye, and went to sleep.


I met Virginia, who took this picture of a Blue Tit on my hand.


The usual Coal Tit was in the leaf yard ...


... and so was one of the Nuthatches.


Robins came out all along the east side of the Long Water, looking a bit bedraggled in the drizzle.


A Jackdaw trotted up to be given a peanut.


Charlie the Carrion Crow saw me crossing the bridge and flew up to get one too.


The white-faced Blackbird at the Italian Garden came out for some sultanas.


The Red-Crested Pochard drake who fancies the female Mallard had moved up to this end of the Long Water. The Mallard drake moved in to shoo him away.


Next to them, a pair of Great Crested Grebes were fishing together under the dead willow.


Under the willow near the bridge, a Coot was already building a nest ...


... and the dark Mallard brothers were under another branch.


A Lesser Black-Backed Gull was having a wash.


I didn't go right round the lake, as I didn't want to wreck my newly healed ankle, but Virginia went on and took some fine pictures. The next three are hers.

The Grey Herons at the island are building up their nests.


An Egyptian Goose had won a bit of biscuit, and was chased by Black-Headed Gulls.


A Pied Wagtail trotted around near the Dell restaurant, looking for insects.


I didn't get any videos today. The camera I use for videos, the Nikon Coolpix 900, isn't weatherproof and on rainy days has to be kept in a bag, which makes instant shooting impossible. So here is David Element's interesting study of a Grey Heron fishing.

15 comments:

  1. Welcome back!
    So good to see that many of your bird friends were there to throw a welcoming party!

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    1. Thank you both. I'm not pretending that the Little Owl came out to say hello, but it was a wonderful moment.

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  2. Great to hear you are out an about again, and not forgotten by your feathered friends. Congratulations on maintaining a great blog the whole time too. This one again too is lively.

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  3. Congratulations on your recovery.

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  4. Glad you have got back, well done, stay well.

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    1. Thank you all. I'll have to go a bit carefully for a few days, so don't expect any great expeditions.

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  5. Good to see you back Ralph. Take it easy!

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  6. I feel the birds DID put on a welcoming parade for you! Great to see you back on your feet again.

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  7. Glad you are back on your feet Ralph :D must be great to be back. Much as i've enjoyed the interns' photo contributions from other locations it'll be nice to have your regular report back. life's not the same without it. cheers! Mark W2.

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  8. Glad you are back on your feet again. I expect the birds missed their regular treats while you were away!

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  9. Hi again, did you see your gull video is nearing 60K views? Your narrations really are professional. I've tried writing narration myself and the results have been wretched bad. It isn't simple to provide good narration. https://youtu.be/xRPTBhmcyXY

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    1. I have no idea what happened to push that gull video. You've made lots of fine videos, but for some reason this one really took off. Possibly the blood 'n' guts.

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