The Great British Bird Hunt: Week 10 22-06-2014 Birds Spotted 6

It was a pretty good weekend as I was able to head up to London with the aim of seeing some Ring-Necked Parakeets. The weather was fantastic and I visited Richmond Park via the River Thames. It was a long old tiring walk, but the upside was I saw a large number of birds, including 6 new ones, two of which were ducks.

Red-Crested Pochard
Many Red-Crested Pochards are escaped exotic birds. They rarely breed in the UK, with the RSPB suggesting there are only around 20 breeding pairs. They are typically passage birds, but a large number can be found throughout the lakes and ponds of London. These ones weren't pinioned (why a bone is removed to stop them from flying) and were instead happily flying up and down the River Thames. They're quite stocky diving ducks, with fantastic bright heads and a belligerent nature.

The males are easily recognisable.

The females less so, but they are still striking.

Having a wash!

Egyptian Goose

Another bird that has gone feral after being introduced for ornamental purposes. The Egyptian Goose is related to the Shelduck and is quite a striking bird. It's a fairly large duck (it gets its name for its goose-like appearance) that originally hails from Africa, notably the Sahara and Nile Valley.

It's a lovely duck, with a typically exotic look that immediately makes it stand out. We saw these ones on the Thames by Twickenham bridge, where they were happily mingling with Canada Geese.

They look like geese, but their close relative is the Shelduck.

This one was doing a balancing act!

Ring-Necked Parakeet

This was my reason for a trip to London and I wasn't disappointed. No matter how many time I see them I'll never get over the fact that you can get parakeets in London of all places. They are seen as pests by many London residents due to their raucous calls and the way they typically ruin fruit by taking a single bite and moving on to the next piece. As a visitor they're wonderfully exotic and my heart stopped every time one flew across my viewfinder. While they are firmly established in London (with over 6,000 birds in a single roost) they occasionally appear in other parts of the UK. It's unclear when they were introduced into the country, or why they're so hardy, but their colourful antics left a big smile on my face, with the highlight seeing a flock of around 20 fly by as I was heading home.

They can be quite hard to see in the foliage.

Parrots in London will never get old.

Mandarin

Our next bird is yet another escapee, although it's quite possible that this one wasn't wild, as I didn't see it fly. Mandarin ducks are one of the most spectacular around, thanks to the male's brilliant colours and ornate plumage. Sadly, I didn't see any males anywhere, with both my encounters being females. It's an East-Asian perching duck that has spread throughout the UK. There are now over 2,300 breeding pairs and a good 7,000 are thought to winter here. I saw this one on a smaller pond in Richmond Park, where she was generally getting harassed by the larger ducks :(

A female Mandarin, the white stripe on the eye is a dead giveaway.

Great Crested Grebe

As I was walking along the bank I saw a Grey Heron. After taking a photo I immediately saw a Grebe, but it dived down before I could take a shot. I wanted for it to resurface, but as I discovered they are fantastic divers and I didn't see it for the rest of the morning. They were out in force in the afternoon however, allowing for plenty of great shots. These water birds are absolutely stunning and immediately noticeable thanks to the tufts on their heads. While clumsy on land due to the far back feet, they are amazing in the water, being powerful divers that will happily plunge into the depths in search of prey. They're very maternal as well, often carrying their young around on their backs. I sadly didn't see any young, but the adult birds are so striking I didn't really mind.

Absolutely beautiful.

Unlike diving ducks they rarely come up in the same place.

Sadly, I didn't see any with a recently caught fish.

ChiffChaff

This final bird is all thanks to an RSPB member. It came to my attention after I noted its distinctive call, which I don't recall hearing before. I took a photo, but the sun got the better of me and it was cast in dark shadow. After lightening the image up in the trial version of Light Room, a member suggested that it's posture reminded them of a ChiffChaff and asked about its call. ChiffChaffs are extremely similar to Willow Warblers and almost impossible to tell apart, especially at a silly distance like this. Luckily, after hearing the bird id, it was indeed a ChiffChaff, allowing me to scrape by with one more bird for the week, even if the image isn't the best!

Here's the original image!

It's now bleached of colour, but still allowed for an accurate reading.

So that's it for yet another week. We're slowing getting through the list and I've now spotted an impressive 68 birds, leaving me with 203 left to find. I'll see you next week, but in the meantime here's some of the other birds and wildlife I saw this week.