FRIDAY, 27th JANUARY 2012.
It was a beautiful morning, so I was up and out early. I started out waiting for a Kingfisher on the Mole, but it didn't materialise and I couldn't resist checking if the Little Owl was in its tree. It was.
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| A Little Owl rests in its favourite tree, with half an eye on the nearby footpath. |
Then on to Painshill Park, where a couple of days earlier I had counted ten Goosanders, including three females. They were all still there.
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| The female Goosanders are very proud of their hair-styles. |
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| "What was that you said?" |
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| A male and female Goosander. |
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| Seven of the group of ten Goosanders present today. |
All the regulars were there. I was particularly pleased to see Mr Dodgy Duck, who together with his sister Daffy, has what appears to be a split lower beak mandible through which his tongue permanently hangs. I first saw them three years ago, so I presume it doesn't inhibit them too much. The fact that there are two of them suggests that it is a genetic defect.
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| One of the many Swans on duty today at Painshill. |
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| ... and a Greylag Goose rests on one leg. |
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| Mr. Dodgy Duck, with his tongue hanging through a split lower beak. |
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| A fox speeds away. |
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| A pair of Greater Spotted Woodpeckers "posturing". |
Itinerant Cormorants often rest in the tree providing the highest point of the lake area of Painshill Park. This was the first time however that I had seen as many as five there at the same time.
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| Cormorants relaxing and exchanging gossip as a break from their various journeys, |
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| The highest Cormorant decides it's time for him to go. |
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| A Tree Creeper doing what Tree Creepers do. |
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| "We can see you!" A family of Squirrels. |
I could see (and hear) two Goldcrests working their way through a conifer, searching for insects and spiders for lunch. They ignored my presence, but they are so fast-moving that getting a good portrait while they are feeding is not an easy task. So I have about thirty pictures of brown blurs or tail-end views, and I have posted below the one shot in which an eye and a beak are visible, if somewhat obliquely.
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| A Goldcrest flits through the foliage looking for insects. |
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| This looks intersting. Now, can I eat it? |
