Hyde park take two

With my daughter moving back to London in West Hamd she needing someone to help unload this Mini Bus and as always it was down to me to help. We picked the bus up the night before and fair play for Christina she drove this tank well. When we stopped for fuel in Asda in Tir Founder Fields I spotted a Tawny Owl in a near bush and it then landed on a fence post and give fairly good views. My first owl of the 2017. We left just after 6 am and going up went pretty smooth. I saw 3 Kestrels before I saw a single Common Buzzard, I also got  Red Kite near Reading and a Brown Hare in a farm field. Once we got to the Capital it was reasonably quiet and it went like a dream. By 2 pm it was all finished and time for me to go back to the park and try for Little Owl again. Up until this point it was sunny and dry but has I walked towards the park it got darker and by the time I got in it was raining and when I got to the Little Owl tree it was welling it down and no owls again. Never being one to let the rain stop play I just carried on and found a flock of about 12 Starlings. They landed by my feet and one was very happy to feed from my hand. How can a bird look so different in winter and summer plumage but a cracking bird .

I found a pair a Gadwall in with the Mallard and it was great to get close views of these ducks and yes they failed the bread test. I also had a couple of Tufted Duck and they were diving down under the other ducks and gulls and were grabbing the bread that the other were missing but that was not much. The Black Headed Gulls were very fast and were catching it before it hit the water.

I saw 6 Great Crested Grebes and one pair come together and looked like they were going to display and at the last moment changed their mind.

I also found this Winter Plumage Common Gull and at first I was thinking I had a Ring Bill and on getting closer found it was not but still a smart bird .

I also had this Herring Gull and I was think the bill looks thick compared to the other Herring Gulls and I think it could be a second year bird .

Near the Owl tree I found these two Grey Herons and I am still amazed they eat bread and how close they came.

I met this Irish man by the feeding area for Parakeets which is near the Peter Pan Sculpture and he said when he got there he saw about 7 parakeets but by now there was over 30 noisy birds and they wanted food. He was feeding them peanuts in the shell and I had one bird sitting on my shoulder and was chewing right in my ear. Another squawked right in my ear and I jumped a mile, all good fun and I will be back .

It was funny has he left the birds flew after him.

On the way out I found three pair of Mandarins and a great end to my two hour walk .