Mandarin Ducks

A male mandarin duck (Aix galericulata).

And a female:

And, what I presume is an immature male:

Photos taken beside the middle lake in Whiteknights Park,  Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-01-09.

<a href="http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/lh/photo/WYjx1tWTmgKcyMUymparMw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_XvboqqAMSuo/S0unDiZ0eRI/AAAAAAAAGOE/6h_hdP5XO1I/s800/Aix-galericulata-Mandarin-duck-20100109a.JPG" /></a>

Robin

A robin (Erithacus rubecula).  In snowy weather these can be very tolerant of humans.  Zoe was attempting to get this one to eat out of her hand, but without success as it was continually being distracted by people feeding the ducks nearby.

Photo taken beside the middle lake, Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-01-09.

<a href="http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/lh/photo/VB_zjxjPBWPmsD_zcVxEMw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_XvboqqAMSuo/S0iZGOniWHI/AAAAAAAAGMc/LtdJE9zb0Kk/s800/Erithacus-rubecula-Robin-20100109.JPG" /></a>

Pale Ducks

On Sunday afternoon I was walking round the large lake with Zoe when we saw this pair of pale brown, almost white ducks.  They seemed a bit smaller than the mallards that they were with, but this photo by Dave Appleton (halfway down this page at gobirding.eu) of a very similar bird in the Scilly Isles, suggests that they are probably a domestic breed of mallard (Anas platyrhynchos).

From the relative shapes of the heads I suspect that the one above is a male and the one below a female.

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-01-03.

Update on Tue 2010-01-26 by Tristram Brelstaff

Zoe tells me that these are call ducks which are, just as I suspected, a small domestic breed of mallard.  Since about a week ago, one of them seems to have disappeared and the remaining one has been hanging around with a male mallard.

Winter Birds

On Sunday morning I was looking out the kitchen window when I noticed a flock of small birds at the very top of one of the tall trees.  At first I thought they might be starlings but they were too light coloured so I went and got my camera and took some photos.  These revealed the birds to be redwings (Turdus iliacus), probably pushed southwards by cold weather further north.

The following afternoon there was a group of shoveller ducks swimming in a circle on the large lake in Reading University grounds.  Another sign of approaching winter.

Nuthatch

This morning I was standing at the kitchen sink watching the squirrels and the blue tits in the trees outside when I noticed a small bird agitatedly pecking away at the trunk of one of the horse chestnut trees.  It was slightly larger than the tits but was too far away for me to identify, so I dashed through to the bedroom and grabbed my binoculars from the cupboard.  Fortunately the bird was still there when I got back to the kitchen.  Bluish grey above, creamy white with reddish tinges below, a black eye-stripe and long beak: a nuthatch (Sitta europaea).  It's been several years since I have seen one of these. We used to occasionally see them in the tree just outside the bedroom window, but that was before flats were built on field next door.