Wildlife at Home, the Wetlands and Lakeside Park

Since I first saw the black-crowned night-heron on the third of August it has become a regular early morning acquaintance. But only very briefly before it disappears among the high branches of the trees that edge Shoemaker Lake. A lone Caspian Tern has also been a welcome visitor to Lakeside Park every morning. It circles with seemingly effortless flaps of its wings, it swoops, stalls motionless in midair, it folds its wings and then dives headfirst. More times than not, it comes up with nothing more than wet feathers, but when it does hit its target the Tern leaves Lakeside Park with its prize, only to return a while later looking for its next unsuspecting catch. The young belted kingfishers are becoming masters of the hunt.  Using their skills effectively to score on almost every attempt. There is always the problem of the scales though, they tend to get everywhere! A quick rub and it's all better. The mallards and geese at Lakeside Park are quite often taken for granted. They ar...

The rain has kept me away from my mornings at Lakeside Park. I have gone but been forced to leave with the torrential rain we have had. Yesterday though after the rain had stopped, my wife and I ventured out for a walk around the park and of course, no walk is complete without a camera. A T-shirt-wearing 16 degrees had everyone out walking too, so we headed off the beaten track, mindful of social distancing. A walk through the grass beside the pollinator meadow would have been uneventful had the grass not moved. I have seen garter snakes at Lakeside Park before but never actually managed to take a photo. They don't usually hang around. This garter snake did though and mindful of my encounter in October of 2019, I decided to keep my distance:  https://wildlakeside.blogspot.com/2019/10/watch-your-step.html . Garter snakes are well camouflaged and I'm sure had it not been for its movement we would not have noticed it at all. The unusually mild weather and the heat o...