Roundhay Park

I saw on twitter recently about a Whooper Swan on the lake at Roundhay Park, it had been injured last year and once released had stayed with the Mute Swans there. So Saturday morning my daughter and I jumped on the bus and headed over there.

It was freezing but so beautifully sunny it didn't really matter about the cold. There was a park run happening when we arrived with the finish line not far from the top lake where we usually walk first so we bypassed that and went straight to the main lake.

There were a lot of corvids all over the park - Jackdaw, Rook and Crows, they were not in the least bit bothered by the people around, in fact one strutted it's way down the path towards us like we weren't even there.

At the lake straight away we were honked at by a farmyard Goose that was with all the Canada Geese along side the fence. We had bought some food from home (not bread), my daughter was in charge of that......do you ever grow out of feeding the ducks?!

As soon as we got past the fence the swans and ducks headed straight for us and you really couldn't miss the Whooper, the bright yellow beak a stand out against the others but then the noise it made was quite unique and to be honest had my daughter in hysterics. It was quite a fiesty little thing and held it's own amongst the Mute Swans, they were all a bit nippy with their beaks. A few Mallards and Moorhens made a bit of a half-hearted effort at going for the food but they didn't stand a chance - too many long necks

I must admit I took an awful lot of photos of the Swans and the noisy Black-headed Gulls that descended, they looked quite beautiful in the sunlight.

We walked around part of the lake and saw Cormorant, Tufted Ducks, Coots, Moorhen and one Teal hidden in the overhanging branches.

On to the top lake were more Swans, Mallards, Tufted ducks, Black-headed gulls, also a pair each of Gadwall, Goosander, a single Herring Gull and overhead a Sparrowhawk.

Waiting for the bus outside the park entrance a Sparrowhawk dashed across the road in front of us and a Red Kite was flying above the trees. Perfect way to end our visit.

Out and About

On Saturday we were in York doing a little Christmas browsing, at dusk we were by the Christmas Market in the centre as Pied Wagtails started flying in to roost, it was an amazing sight, there were maybe a couple of hundred in the end with a few stragglers coming in as we walked about. A Sparrowhawk flew through them as they came in scaring a flock out of the trees, it didn't catch anything and soared off round the buildings. 

I caught this Wagtail in a car park in Morley, there have been a few in the town centre the past couple of weeks

In the Scatcherd Park I noticed, on the way to work, the Redwings arrived at the end of last week, I had a little time to walk around with the camera on Monday morning, however they are very flighty and are off at the first sign of people!

This Crow though was not in the least bit bothered!

There are Blackbirds everywhere, the one in the second photo had just swallowed a huge worm.

Woodpigeon

Blue Tit

The only decent shots I manged to get of the Redwings,

The park was beautiful in the sun though in parts it was still quite frosty.

A little closer to home I spotted this Mistle Thrush taking a drink from a dripping pipe!

There were a few Chaffinch nearby too. 

I'm going to miss my commute to work over the holidays!