Two Sets of Egyptian Geese Chicks

On Sunday morning, before 8am, Zoe and I wrapped up well and went up to the University lakes armed with several slices of bread.  The Sun was shining but there was ice on puddles and a cold north-easterly wind was blowing.  As soon as we got to the large lake we saw the older pair of Egyptian geese (the rufous phase male with its lame grey phase female) with 5 chicks on the water.  Zoe threw bread to them but the mother led her chicks away from us towards the wooded island.  Maybe they had recently been fed by some one else?  The female looked a lot thinner than when we had last seen her and we were disappointed that we were not able to feed her.   We last saw her and her chicks clambering up the bank onto the island.  Then the male went off to chase some mallards and Canada geese, even though these were nowhere near the island.  The males Egyptian geese seem to have been particularly belligerent for the past month or two.

Zoe and I then moved off to the other end of the lake.  There we saw the other younger pair of Egyptian geese (both rufous phase) with only 4 chicks.  I took the above picture of the chicks with the female.  The male was sat on the path and had an injured leg.  Because of this he seemed to find it easier to fly than to walk.  Zoe offered them bread and both the male and the female took it, and even the chicks pecked at some of the smaller pieces.  Unfortunately the weather  forecast is for the rest of this week to remain cold, so the chances of these chicks surviving is fairly small.

Egyptian Geese Chicks

This evening,  Zoe and I went up the University lakes just as it was beginning to get dark.  One of the female Egyptian geese was sitting in some reeds near the southern tip of the large lake.  We were told that she was sitting on 8 chicks that had just recently hatched out.  We didn't actually see the chicks, they had presumably settled down for the night.  However, Zoe and I will be up early tomorrow morning and we hope to see them then.

Kingfisher and Grey Wagtail

I went for a walk round the Reading University grounds by myself this afternoon.  Zoe stayed at home with Liz.  It had been a fairly cold grey day.  After half an hour in the campus bookshop, I walked back towards the Foxhill entrance.  The sun came out just as I was passing the weir at the north-western corner of the large lake, and I caught a glimpse of the red and irridescent blue of a kingfisher as it darted out from the north bank and flew off eastwards below the overhanging branches.  A few seconds later it was followed by a grey wagtail (Motacilla cinerea).  The person who named these birds chose to ignore their bright yellow fronts and instead concentrated on the upper part of their backs which is grey.

Three Birds of Prey

On a walk along the Thames near Wallingford today, Zoe and I saw a falcon, probably a kestrel (Falco tinnunculus), drifting on a stiff cold breeze, occasionally turning into the wind to look longer at something that caught its eye on the ground, before resuming its drifting.  It didn't hover while we were watching, but then it was probably high enough up not to need to.  It was  little larger than a pigeon and had a straight, unforked tail.

On the way home, probably somewhere near Cane End, I saw a red kite from the car.  It passed almost overhead quite low, its forked tail obvious.  Fortunately I was not driving or we might have run off the road.  Zoe was on the wrong side of the car and didn't see it.  It was clearly larger than the falcon we had seen earlier.

As if that wasn't enough for one day, Zoe and I saw another probable falcon being mobbed by a gull while we were walking along Alexandra Road in Reading later that afternoon.  This was similar in shape the the falcon we had seen earlier, but was possibly a bit larger and heavier.  It was similar in size the gull that was mobbing it.  However, it was too far away to identify properly.

Bullfinch

On Friday morning at just after 11am I was walking from Frimley to Farnborough North.  As I was passing the seat overlooking the lake nearest Frimley, I noticed a bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) in a bush.  It had a red front, a grey back, a black head and a white patch on the front of its wings.  It was joined in the bush by a flock of long-tailed tits.  I turned round to continue on my way, and almost immediately four greenfinches flew across my path.  Further along the path, in the denser woodland there were the usual robins, great tits, magpies and a jay.  And to top it all, when I got to Farnborough North there was a cormorant perched on the tree by the big lake, holding its wings out to dry in the breeze.