Capital Wildlife - 24 hours in London

We spent a night in London after the launch of the Stanley Spencer anthology at Cookham Festival last Friday. We really enjoyed the atmosphere of Camden Lock, with its barges coming and going. 

At one point there was a bit of a splash as this Cormorant touched down. It was a good reminder that London boasts so much more wildlife than the proverbial pigeons, which admittedly were certainly showing in good numbers. 

Two Canada Geese swam round the corner towards us while we were watching the barges.

At this point we caught a bus to the Tower, renowned for its ravens, which on this occasion we failed to see.

We joined the queue for the Thames Clipper, and I was interested to note how much wildlife had been crammed onto this board... I expect some of the species live further up river, near the mouth. I'm sure we all associate the Thames with eels, but photos of the seahorse and water vole caught my eye.

We had to wait for a while, but it was not too long before we were heading upstream to Greenwich...

...where we enjoyed a rather damp picnic lunch beside the Cutty Sark.

• The London Wildlife Trust

Squirrels (1): Red Squirrels in Scotland

I was delighted to see Red Squirrels in Scotland back in June. There is a magnificent Fox Squirrel on Naquillity's blog (do take a look here), so I thought it was about time my squirrel photos had an outing, too.

My Squirrel photography is far from brilliant here: you can either blame the midges, the dark shade in the wood or the fact that this was my first experiment with a small tripod and maximum zoom.

We had been told that we might see a Red Squirrel in woodland not far from Kingussie. It was a real thrill when we caught sight of several at once. They were extremely active.

Grey Squirrels were among the first creatures I saw as a young child in Greenwich Park, but Red Squirrels are rare these days. I last saw one or two some years ago on Brownsea Island (where I bought my first binoculars!). Have you seen any recently?

• Squirrel Nutkin
• More from me about Greenwich - and its new 'Moby Dick'
  

Beautiful Birds (7): Cute Coots

I spent my teenage years in rural Norfolk,
the setting for part of Arthur Ransome's Coot Club tale
about the Callum children.

Perhaps this is why I find Coots fascinating.

The female above
was photographed at the National Botanic Garden of Wales
some weeks ago.

This young Coot was spotted
in May, along the banks of the Thames.

We also saw those controversial Green Parakeets,
but they flew around in a frenzy and were too fast for the camera!

Mother Coots must be adept
at making the most of the material to hand.

It may be a case of the 'town mouse' and the 'country mouse'
(to mix metaphors for a moment);
but if I was a young Coot,

I know which nest I would choose!