Coots, Colours, Ripples, & Reflections

Better in large ("L")

Wow, what an afternoon (in a low-key sort of a way...). I met a friend for lunch in town, and went to Clapham Common en route home. I was there for about 3 hours in the end! As I was walking across the common, a man noticed my camera and said "There's a great picture to be had over there: ask him..." [and gestured towards another man]. My curiosity piqued, I wandered over to the man at the edge of a tree with low-hanging branches. As I approached I noticed bees, loads of bees; why were there so many bees?! The man was taking photos with his camera-phone: bees were swarming over the tree! There were masses of them both in the air and on the tree: the queen had obviously left their previous nest and they were checking out this tree as a new hive. I took some pictures (it was so dark that ISO2000 was necessary...): interesting but not that blip-able. They certainly don't do justice to the experience: the air felt so electric, and the noise was incredible! It wasn't exactly loud but was such an intense hum that it felt very loud. I'm not great with bees, but they couldn't have been less interested in me: I was about 2m from the trunk, and there were loads whizzing past me. It was an amazing experience.

I phoned the bee keeper at "The Hive Shop" on Northcote Road to tell him in case he was interested in rescuing the colony: the tree was next to a pub, and I'm sure they'd try to get rid of it if it settled there... I described what I'd seen, and he said that it sounded as though the queen was already inside the tree; he could only rescue them if they formed a football-shaped mass around the queen...

I thanked the chap who'd pointed it out, and wandered on to Eagle Pond. It was grey and trying to drizzle, but the sun appeared after about 15 minutes and it turned into a glorious afternoon. The goslings are starting to develop their first feathers: it isn't that noticeable yet, but they'll be patchy in no time (*sigh*). I've put lots of alternatives up: I love the colours and bokeh in this cootling picture (I've adjusted the contrast and white balance, and cropped slightly).
I've put up a picture of Mr. Goosle preening: he is moulting so looks rather unusual. He is still v. handsome: I told him that... "Hello Mr. You're very handsome."... (This is him 2 weeks ago, for comparison).
I've also put up a new picture of a sparrow fledgling: it turns out that there are 5 of them!
I've also put up two pictures of the goslings: they've started flappy dancing which is fun (YAY!), and I've also just put up a picture of them looking super-cute and elegant: we'll have to survive on those until they come out the other side of the less cute patchy stage...