Wild at Hull: Warm at East Park

Monday, 11 May 2015

Warm at East Park

I had a very pleasant morning today at East Park, with wonderful conditions for photography, warm and sunny. Butterflies and other invertebrates were about, swarms of flies including St Marks flies, flew over the lake, attracting the attention of starlings, who sallied out hawking them in the air near the bridge. There was a drake Shoveler on the lake, who attracted the attention of a coot, and was chased several times probably seeing it didn't belong there. The Shoveler appeared reluctant to go, though, as it flew and returned a couple of times.
I was glad to spot the great crested grebe chick. One of the adults was on the nest and I wonder if the chick had been resting there, as I didn't see it on my first walk around the lake.
A nice surprise was the family of Canada Geese, which appeared very vigilant around their small goslings, and constantly called and signalled to them. A crow flew over to the shore to drink and the goslings, responding to the adult calls hid under their mother. There were several irresponsible dog owners that let them loose near the greylag creche, causing chaos amongst them.
A few House Martins, Swallows and Swifts were about.

A Sparrowhawk on the hunt.

Many Holly Blues on the holly avenue. This female showed interest in the holly buds, where they lay eggs.

Upside down male Great spotted Woodpecker.

Drake Shoveler.

Canada family

The only female Tufted duck in the lake was closely followed by her mate.

One of the Pinkfeet, a male...

...and the other one, a female. I didn't see the third one today.

A swift chase high up.

This crow was displaying to a magpie on the ground. Note how the head feathers are all erect, making it look bigger.

One of the rook nests had a grown chick, which almost came out of the nest when one of its parents came back with food. You can see its head over the rim of the nest.