Saturday 10 February 2018

Urban Birds (and Mammals) in a Local Park

Treecreeper

Inspired by the launch of Nadia Kingsley's new book of art and poetry, DIVERSIFLY, on the theme of urban birds in Britain, we took a short spin around a local park to see what was about before the rain got too heavy.

Having seen the Kingfishers (here and here) on BBC Winterwatch recently, we were thrilled to find not one but two by the lake, presumably a male and a female. Will there be young in due course?

Sadly the birds were at the furthest point from us for much of the time, and since my zoom does not perform well in grey rainy weather, my photo is just a record shot - but it is always a thrill to see these birds, and I have never seen two at the same time before.

Catkins - I think these are birch ones... (whoops, Juliet thins they are hazel. My mistake. Thank you, Juliet!)

Coot

Young adult Black-headed Gull

The ice house from the days when the park was part of an estate



We were fascinated to see the small trunks growing vertically out of the horizontal trunk. This was where we saw our first rat. David also noticed a Grey Squirrel.


It's always lovely to see a Robin.


I had hoped there might have been more Snowdrops, but it was good to see the few that there were.
Good weather for ducks... This is largely, but not entirely, Mallard!
Look who's peeping out!

I don't know if our presence startled the rats, but the larger one, presumably the mother, swam off across the lake. The young one (peeping out of the trunk, two photos up) came down and sniffed around the tree trunk.

We also noticed Wood Pigeons, a Carrion Crow, a Bluetit and a Magpie. Not bad for a short visit in the rain...


4 comments:

Crafty Green Poet said...

Lovely photos Caroline, speically the treecreeper. We had wonderful views of a kingfisher today at Edinburgh Botanics - last time we were there there were 2!

I think your catkins might be hazel...

Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax! said...

I've seen robins and mallards and black headed gulls and even rats - so how come I've never seen a Kingfisher? It's very frustrating!

Ragged Robin said...

I've been tempted to buy the new Nadia Kingsley book. Super selection of photos and some great sightings.

Amanda Peters said...

What a beautiful set of photos..
Amanda xx