Winter water birds

It has been very cold for the past few days and the local ponds and lakes are frozen.  All, that is, apart from one end of Kilingworth Lake, a mile from here.  There the birds have manage to keep a patch of open water and there are hundreds of them crowded in.  I didn't get worthwhile photos of all of them but the birds I saw included black-headed gull, Canada goose, common gull, coot, gadwall, goldeneye, herring gull, little grebe, mallard, moorhen, mute swan, pochard, shoveler, and tufted duck.  They were all very close in and very hungry, so prepared to tolerate humans.  It was a great opportunity to see them close up and to take a few photos.

For example, it isn't often I see a goldeneye this close.

The most numerous duck was tufted duck.

I also saw a few male pochards.

And mallards.

The gadwalls weren't joining the party, preferring to take a nap on the ice.

Other partypoopers were shovelers.

I am used to seeing shovelers on the water but I hadn't realised how small they are until I saw this one next to a mallard.

Gulls present were black-headed gulls,

herring gulls,

and one first-winter common gull.

While I was watching several people brought food for the birds.  The swans and gulls in particular saw them coming and raced across to meet them.  The ducks, coots and geese joined in the scrum.

The thaw started today so the birds will be able to spread out across the lake again or disperse to nearby ponds and lakes.

A walk round the pond - Week 10

We'll see how this works out.  Last year I published a weekly post from the pond(s) each week from week 13 (late March) until week 44 (early November).  There was a lot to see and to report and it was fascinating to watch the season unfold.  I am starting a bit earlier this year and if there is enough to see I'll try to post a report each week.

The most striking thing about the pond at this time of year is how brown everything looks.  I am used to everything being green in the summer but most of the new growth has yet to emerge.  There is some colour as the alder trees are in flower.

Here are the (male) catkins and the small purple female flowers which will produce this year's cones.

Hazel trees are in full flower as well.

Here are the catkins plus the small red female flowers.

The flowers have already been fertilised as they are starting to swell to form new hazel nuts.

Although it has been a dry winter there has been a fair amount of rain in the past week and the water level is noticeably higher than last year.  The island in the larger pond is once again an island.

On my last couple of visits at the end of last year a pair of swans was in residence.  Almost the first thing I noticed on this visit was a lot of swan feathers plus a breast bone.  Obviously a swan had died or been killed.

Right across the other side of the larger pond, about 100m away, was a very large number of swan feathers.  Whether they came from the same bird or a different one is impossible to say.

When I got to the smaller pond the first thing I saw was a swan, a cygnet.

Then there were four, plus an adult.  If this was one of the pair I saw last year it must have fetched its young to join it. Of course, these may be different birds altogether.  And the good news is that there is no signs of Canada geese.

Two species I saw were new sightings (for me) at the pond.  A pair of widgeons - this is the female but the male flew off before having his photo taken.

And a pair of gadwalls - this is a very distant view of the male.

Other birds were heron, buzzard and coot.

I'll be back next week to see what has changed.  Soon there will be frog spawn and toad spawn.  The pussy willow will be in flower soon and I have to complete the first bumblebee walk before the end of the month.  Watch this space.