Birds. Birds, Birds....

I am just writing to explain that one of the reasons that I have yet again neglected this blog is to do with my bird obsession- or should I say Heron obsession? Every day I have been spending many hours observing and photographing the young Grey Heron family in Valentines Park. I have then been feeding photos and stories about them (and Great Crested Grebes, Mute Swans and Egyptian Geese) to the Redbridge Birdwatching Blog. By the time I have done this I have not had the energy to update my own blog! but it has seemed important to do this as there is so much local interest in the Grey Herons nesting in Redbridge for the first time for over 100 years.

I will certainly be writing more about them here, but in the meantime here is an image showing that two of the heron chicks have now fledged, although they still sometimes return to their nest:


Here too is a photo of the Great Crested Grebe on her/his nest with three eggs! I previously described how the Grebes had left this same nest when the four eggs vanished, so you can imagine my delight about this new development. We can only hope they have more success this time round...


If you'd like to read more about this, have a look at the Redbridge Birdwatching Blog...both in the posts and under headings for individual birds (Great Crested Grebes, Grey Herons, Mute Swans and Egyptian Geese) in the side column. But you will find you have already seen many of the older photos...