... with one eye open.

By Chamaeleo

Grey heron landing

I went to the boating pond on Clapham Common this afternoon to visit the Egyptian goslings geese. All 7 of the flying fledglings were there; alas, no sign of Angel Wing... Sad.
There was also a grey heron, the mallard with 8 ducklings, and millions of pigeons by the pond. It was incredibly grey and stormy-looking which created quite interesting light, but made for quite tricky shooting. The mother and ducklings were swimming when I arrived, but soon got out and all 8 took shelter under the mother which was cute. The heron was hanging around near the fledglings, but flapped and stood up tall if they got too close to it.
When I was looking at the duck family, I had quite a disappointing momentary misunderstanding: I glanced over at the Egyptian geese and there were 8 of them! I rushed over to see whether Angel Wing had crept up/reappeared, but it turns out the mother had flown over from Eagle Pond and joined them... Grrr. I haven't seen the father for days so I don't know what he's playing at.

Anyway, this was the heron landing after the mother goose got too close for the heron's comfort; mother goose didn't back down like the goslings young geese do, so the heron flew off and landed about 50m further along the pond. It is a very graceful creature. I like them so long as they aren't munching on cootlings/cute things...

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