Kensington Gardens

I didn't go into work today as not feeling too great, however I started to feel a little house bound and decided a touch of fresh air was required. I headed over to Kensington Gardens for an hour and managed to add a few species to the year list.

A guarantee was always going to be the Egyptian Goose, quite large numbers in the park now, the flock outnumbering the Canada Goose and Greylag Goose.

Egyptian Geese

Egyptian Geese (Squabble or Courtship?)

 

There were small flocks of both Canada and Greylag goose grazing by the Round Pond, Greylag were 'new for year' for me.

 

Greylag Goose

 

It was nice to see a couple of cheeky Jackdaw up close and the lovely colours of a Starling when they are caught in the right light.

 

Jackdaw

Starling

Starling (bathing)

Starling (bathing)

Starling (bathing)

 

I managed to find the Greater Scaup amongst the Tufted Duck although I was unable to get a decent photo as he was always into the Sun.

 

Scaup

 





I then took a walk over to the old Oak tree to search for the resident Tawny Owl which I've never managed to find despite the daily reporting of by Ralph on his amazing blog HERE, an inspirational example of true patch birding.  Needless to say I was unable to find the Tawny Owl...

 

I headed on over to the Leaf Garden in search of Coal Tit's as this was another bird I needed for this year, on route over I was treated to some great views of Jay and found a couple of Redwing and a Song Thrush.

 

Jay

Redwing

Song Thrush

 



I found a Coal Tit 'pitchoo-ing' in the Leaf Garden along with Great Tit, Blue Tit and Long-tailed Tit, I also had Pochard and Shovelar on the main lake by the Peter Pan statue.  On my way back I thought I'd chance one last look for the Tawny Owl, I decided to try other trees from the one I'd worked out it would be in according to Ralphs directions which, on revisiting I'd gotten wrong.  My perseverance was finally rewarded (about 8 visits) and there he was sat in the exact pose as in his daily appearance on Ralphs blog..  Thanks to Ralph for directions...

Shovelar

Tawny Owl

 

Having called it day and heading back to the tube I managed to add Great Spotted Woodpecker to the year list.  I grabbed a few photos of the Ring-necked Parakeets as they looked dazzling in the sunshine today.

 

Ring-necked Parakeet

 

I also couldn't resist this Grey Squirrel soaking up the sun, he looked like a hunters pelt...

 





All in all an hour well spent I think, I managed to get some well needed fresh air whilst adding 8 species to my 2015 Year List - Egyptian Goose, Greylag Goose, Greater Scaup, Shovelar, Pochard, Coal Tit, Tawny Owl and Great Spotted Woodpecker

A Couple More

Finally managed to take a few additional photos to count towards the Big Bird Race.

First up is a Jay, although a very distant one, taken from my flat in London across the garden on 15th November, I'll hopefully get a better one as it is a frequent visitor, problem is I'm only really home when it's dark at this time of year.

 52. Jay

 

At the weekend we had relatives down from up north, they wanted to see the big bright lights of London Town and to witness the gold paved streets, bless...  Anyway we had a full weekend, a quick hour of which was a dash around half of the Serpentine where I managed to grab a few more photos.

 

 53. Egyptian Goose

 

 54. Herring Gull

 

55. Common Gull

 

Today (27th November) I had to travel for work, on the way back and knowing the misses was going to be Xmas shopping till late I check tinterweb to see if I would be passing any nature reserves. I was astonished to find that RSPB Fairburn Ings was only 20 minutes from my location so I thought I'd pop in for a quick hour (wish I'd had a long hour, the quick ones whizz past). There wasn't a great deal to see as it was already getting dark but a rare treat for me was the mass of Tree Sparrows, I haven't seen Tree Sparrows for years, probably 15! Certainly not in the last three years that I've been keeping year lists anyway. Here is a sample of them, beautiful little things:

 

56. Tree Sparrow

 

 Tree Sparrow

 

 Tree Sparrow (Ringed)

 







Tree Sparrow