Who's a pretty bird?

After some thought, I decided to head to East Park today, as there were two bird species I hadn't seen this year that I wanted to watch. Week days are always quieter there and I guessed the chances of good views would be greater. The day was overcast, with dar clouds, and a light breeze. As I was locking the car in the main entrance car park I heard the screech of a jay, but was unable to locate it.

 A pair of blue tits were hunting on the shrivelled leaves of a small horse chestnut. They proved tricky to photograph, as they often hung nimbly from underneath the umbrella-like leaves and it was hard to see what they were after, although the chances are that they were hunting horse-chestnut leaf miner pupae (Cameraria ohridella).

 Swan 775 spent the whole morning by the lake landing, grooming.

 I heard Jackdaw calls, like last week, and this time I saw them too, on top of the ticket office building. There were three of them, and this is the first time I see them in the park.

 There were good numbers of Pochard, mostly males, I only saw one female

A pair of Great Crested Grebes were present at the East side of the lake

 The first pretty bird was the Goosander, four females and two males, were snorkelling near the large island, still nervous of people getting too close.

 I heard the call of the parakeet. I hadn't seen it for quite a while, but here he was, the lone male in a garden by the park, eating an apple. Isn't he a pretty bird too?

 A Mistle Thrush guarding a Whitebeam. It must be out of habit, as there were few berries left on the tree.

I heard the call of a wagtail, and managed to see it landing by the bridge, a Grey Wagtail it was.

In the mini zoo, a very large young wallaby nursed

On the skate park, another Grey Wagtail, this one with a paler chest than the other.

And then I heard the Jay again. This time I found it on a tree. I hid behind the exercise machines and watched it feeding on the ground for a while.

I lost it when it flew to the hollies, but just as I was leaving, it flew over and landed on a horse chestnut tree by the car. This was the best and longer jay encounter I ever had. Who's a pretty bird indeed?

Bird List

1. Black-headed Gull
2. Blackbird
3. Blue Tit
4. Canada Goose
5. Carrion Crow
6. Chaffinch
7. Coal Tit
8. Collared Dove
9. Common Gull
10. Coot
11. Cormorant
12. Dunnock
13. Feral Pigeon
14. Goldcrest
15. Goldfinch
16. Goosander
17. Great Crested Grebe
18. Great Spotted Woodpecker
19. Great Tit
20. Greenfinch
21. Grey Wagtail
22. Greylag Goose
23. Herring Gull
24. House Sparrow
25. Jackdaw
26. Jay
27. Long-tailed Tit
28. Magpie
29. Mallard
30. Mallard (domestic)
31. Mistle Thrush
32. Moorhen
33. Mute Swan
34. Pochard
35. Ring-necked Parakeet
36. Robin
37. Starling
38. Tufted Duck
39. Woodpigeon
40. Wren