Hyde Park to feed the herons

We got up early today and headed down to Hyde Park to feed the herons. We left home at 8.45 and got to the Serpentine just before 10.

We found heron standing on the grass between the cottages between the triangle car park and the boathouse.

I threw it a pork belly steak, which it eat quickly. This attracted more herons. They didn't hassle me for food, they just stood still, waiting, and only reacted when I threw something.

I tried to feed each heron in turn, but it was difficult, as other herons would swoop in to try to grab the food.

As it was early, there were plenty of geese grazing on the grass.

We saw an interesting looking Canada hybrid. It looked mostly like a Canada, but with a browner neck, head and beak, with white round its beak.

Here it is next to a Canada, for comparison.

The Greylag geese are my favourite. They're always very forward in asking for food.

Deborah looking for the "beak in the bag" goose.

We saw a few Egyptian goslings. There seem to have been a lot born in the park this year.

After we left Hyde Park, we made our way over to Mudchute to visit the goats.

Visit to Wardown Park, Luton

We found a squirrel with some plastic round its torso. It must have been there for ages, and the squirrel had grown into it. It seemed alright, and was moving around freely. I'm going to buy some netting and try to capture it, then cut the plastic off.

The two young goslings are all grown up now (as The Daily Mail might say). We say them preening with their parents.

There were a few geese out on the grass near the new bandstand, until they got disturbed by a dog and all flew back to the safety of the lake. There were significantly less geese around today than there were when I ran round here on Wednesday. All of the Greylags had gone, and the jumping goose.

There was a lone adult heron standing in the middle of the lake.

We saw two smaller white herons nearby, who were possibly its young.

This Canada looked scruffy, and had some damage to its neck.

All of the Greylags had gone for the day, but we found this hybrid.

He seemed to have a Canada mate, who he was much larger than.

College Lake, near Tring

Lake looked lovely on such a hot day, but I could hear more geese than I could see!

Wrest Park, Bedfordshire

Plenty of Canada Geese flying overhead and honking, but only this pair to be seen on the Leg o'Mutton Lake, which was rather weedy!

Brief visit to St James's Park, London

We were in London today to see a couple of shows, and had time for a brief 15 minute visit to St James's Park.

Our first goose-sighting was a load of Greylags hustling for food.

We saw some young Egyptian goslings having a sleep.

There's a spot in the east of the park where the geese always seem to be sleepy. Here's a gaggle of Canadas enjoying the scenery. The park has some pelicans, who are asleep on some rocks in the lake, on the right.

We saw three Bar-headed geese.

There seems to be a solitary Hawaiian goose at the park. This is the second time that we've seen it, both times from a distance.

Visit to WWT Slimbridge

Today we visited the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust centre in Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, for the sixth time, which is as good a reason as any to finally start this blog.

As we emerged from the Visitor Centre, we were met by this handsome Graylag goose.

I think this was a Lesser white-fronted goose, with quite a distinctive beak.

We fed this family of Greylags.

This cygnet was with only one of its parents, which was unusual. We saw them again a couple of hours later, still just the two of them.

A handsome pair of Emperor geese.

Richardson's Canada goose, which are noticably smaller than normal Canada geese.

A pair of Crested Screamers.

A family of Greylags, with an unusual albino young.

Daddy goose looking warily over his family.

Another family of Greylags, with younger goslings.

Deborah feeding the "beak in the bag" Goose.

The otter family, Flo, Mini and Haha.

A Magpie goose, with a distinctive pointy beak.

Feeding the friendly and tame Hawaiian geese. We've sponsored some of them since 2002. Sadly we couldn't find our geese during this visit.

Smile for the camera!

Some Lesser Snow geese.

Red-breasted goose.

Bar-headed goose.

This odd couple seemed to be a pair. A small Lesser white-fronted goose and an Emperor goose.

Another Lesser snow goose. They're not all as white as the driven snow.

A Cape Barren goose, otherwise known as the Pig goose.

A flotilla of Lesser snow geese.

It was a lovely day for a visit.

The shy Andean geese.

Another Greylag family were foraging in the undergrowth.