Islands in the sun

Egyptian Goose

Egyptian Geese continue to grace us with an occasional visit to the Rec. They (a kind of duck, really) also visit Broomfield and Grovelands – and may just come from a central London park rather than Egypt direct! Mallards nested and are now busy showing their large family of ducklings around the Rec – sometimes interrupted by some superfluous (rather bothersome) young drakes. The moorhens – who abandoned the pond late last summer – worn out by struggling through the blanket weed, have returned, nested on an island and produced a brood of five. Greater spotted and green woodpeckers drum in the oaks and give their ‘laughing’ calls; pied wagtails and the occasional grey wagtail bob by the pond. We see (and hear) goldfinches, dunnocks, greenfinches, robins, collared doves, blackbirds, starlings, feral and wood pigeons, blue tits and great tits, noisy magpies and also tawny owls at night. The long-resident crow pair have nested in the tallest oak. The Rec is truly alive!