Bushy Park Wildlife
Thursday, 15. January 2009, 12:07:30
One last post to finish of my photos from Bushy Park. I'll start with the deer photos I mistakenly left out before. Here is the stag bellowing as we left
And some of the fallows nearby
Some of that herd were melanistic forms
And one buck decided to walk right past us and join the herd
On entering the park was a frosty view
The first sign of life was this ring necked parakeet
After passing the deer we arrived at heron pond. While standing there I noticed a full grown alsatian wandering on to the edge of the frozen lake, which made me wince. The owner then came up and stood in front of me, and to my horror, threw the ball out into the middle of the lake!
The dog of course, blindly trusting its owner, ran straight out after it, until the ice started to creak
and the dog, obviously smarter than its owner, decided to leave the ball and come back to shore. When asked what he'd do (by another horrified onlooker) if the dog went threw the ice, he replied "I'll just wade in and get him." Hmmm, I wouldn't fancy his odds on making it to the nearest heated building over a mile away without succumbing to hypothermia, although he would have good odds of winning a Darwin Award! 
In the woodland garden post I missed out the best photo of the parakeets courting
The trees in and around the park seemed to be rampant with the parasitic mistletoe
During the day we passed the Model Boating Lake (where I photographed the coots) a couple of times, and I photographed the birds on the ice. There were a number of canada geese
One kept sitting down and struggling to get up again
There was a greylag goose mixed in with the canada geese
There were some birds on the lake you dont normally see, like this feral pigeon
And others you do, like this black headed gull
One of the black headed gulls was getting a head start on his rivals by changing into his summer plumage early!
This common gull was also changing into summer plumage
Well it was certainly a productive day, and there is still the photos from Hampton court that day to come. After that there is the photos from last weeks snow, my visit to a frozen harrow lodge and my mammal course at wildwood. After that: snakeflies
(100%)
WIDGETIZE
Flying Red Fox Blog # 15. January 2009, 14:48
That dog owner was very foolish indeed, i hear on the news countless times of owners drowning trying to save their dogs after throwing things to them on ice.
RobinL # 15. January 2009, 20:04
Words # 15. January 2009, 23:38
cakkleberrylane # 16. January 2009, 02:57
SittingFox # 17. January 2009, 09:11
As for the gull, if it thinks -9c is summer, it had better go and live in Antarctica or something!
Ukwildlife # 18. January 2009, 21:54
Robin - it is a lovely park. I intend to go back in summer as all water around seems great for dragonflies and other insects
I think the deer are there because it was origianlly a royal hunting park/forest so no one could build on it.
Words - I thought you'd pick up that! I think when it came up last year on WAB someone said some males had evolved to change early and get a headstart on its rivals!
Cakkleberry - thanks
Adele - judging by all the photos and video of adults taking children and buggies onto the ice I would have to agree!
The gull is either confused or very clever