Category: David

June 6th: the egg or eggs in the West Park herons’ nest had apparently hatched a week and a half previously. On the day that happened, the adult birds had been paying a lot of attention to the nest and its contents.

Since then, they had seemed to be spending their time away from each other and some distance from the nest, at the water’s edge, fishing an preening.

Now they appeared, both standing on a tree growing over the water from the other island in the lake, together with a young bird still losing the down it had when it hatched. The chick is the bird in the middle. Already it looked to be almost the same size as its parents. It has an odd-looking spread wing posture characteristic of young birds in a couple of the pictures. Its rear end has a nappy-like appearance, where the down has not yet been replaced by tail feathers.

Flag iris with some flower buds, and other flowers already opened. These were growing by the small pond in Bantock Park and the pond in Compton Park.

Male large red damselfly at rest on a dried-out bullrush leaf. The next day what was possibly the same insect had switched to a preferred spot on a nearby greener leaf.

Pictures from some years ago, which I have just noticed I never posted before. A young red squirrel on the ground in the extensive grounds of the Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin. Evidently it was used enough to human disturbance to be relaxed while I fired off several pictures.

Sadly, not something we can expect to see around here.

Young coot, one of a pair of half-grown chicks, with droplets of water spread across its down from where it had been diving in the water for food.

The West Park lone greylag gosling not (yet) getting any more elegant as it grows. Here it was lying on short grass, taking care of its feathers.

Both parents were close by, just out of shot, watching protectively.