Hartsholme Park – last week

As regular readers will know, I like to visit Hartsholme Park quite regularly as it is very near and something is usually happening. I went on my own last week and it was very cold, the lake was partially frozen.

I was glad of my thermals! anyway there was still opportunity for some photographs, although there were no Cormorants or Herons this time round, other species were apparent.

Red-crested Pochard (female):

Red-crested Pochard (male):

Red-crested Pochard (male chasing female):

This was the first time that I saw both male and females of this species this year.

I also managed to get on of my best shots of the Tufted Duck:

What always surprises me is how quiet and noisy at the same this place is. There are no cars, no computers, tv’s or many people (apart from the joggers and dog walkers – who always very friendly), however there are a load of birds and they are all making lots of noises this time of year.

Some of them also seem to announce their arrival, the geese species are particularly prone to this, I took this shot of 2x Canada geese on their way into the park:

The highlight of the day were 2 swans who flew in, I see these arriving and leaving the Brayford Wharf near where I work and I have never had a camera with me when they fly in/out as they don’t do it very often. I also amazed by the sound they make as they fly. The swans had obviously seen the ice on the lake and took about 5 circuits of the centre island before they landed:

The back swan landed in the water OK, but the front swan hit water and then smashed through some of the (very thin) ice, the swan seemed OK and was unscathed (I’m sure its pride was damaged though).

So another successful trip to the park, I used the GPS4Cam software again and it performed as advertised.