Regents Park + the water rail platform

Ukwildlifeo · #1 (**permalink**) 05-01-2010, 07:48 PM

Having been asked where the water rail platform is in Regents Park and a few people struggling to find it I thought I'd point out where it is, using the royal parks map (found here) as a guide

The platform is found near the Hanover bridges over the Western end of the big boating lake. If you stand on the Hanover bridge nearest to the toliets and 'WILDLIFE & WATERFOWL CENTRE' (labelled on the map) and look East, out over the main boating lake you will notice along the left hand (northern) bank there is a strip of reedbed. If you move so you can see along the open strip of water/grass between this reed bed and the lake edge you will see a green 'cage' towards towards the back:

Near the cage (as well as in it) you stand a good chance of seeing this, hopefully in better weather conditions than I did!

They do come closer too if your lucky!

Ukwildlifeo · #2 (**permalink**) 05-01-2010, 08:07 PM

I was going to put these on the Regents Park Meet thread but this looks like a better place, since it show what else can be seen in the Park (feel free to add your photos from the park too). Some photos I took yesterday:

Grey heron close up

Juvenile grey heron (uncropped at 150mm)

Blackbird

Crow

Egyptian goose

Little grebe

A smew in the wildfowl collection

Along with a wood duck

Parakeet looking for a nest site

And finish with a heron

AshLee · #3 (**permalink**) 05-01-2010, 08:12 PM

Re. finding the feeding platform, a good tip to find the part of the lake you need is to stand on the high ground and head towards the mosque, which you cannot miss.

Then when you see the buildings near a bridge, that is the bridge you want.

(But I found it by getting out my compass and going west along the lake

).

Lovely bird the Water Rail, but it didn't hang around. You had no sooner spotted it, and passed the binoculars for someone else to view it, and it was gone.

Great shots btw!

pressld2 · #4 (**permalink**) 10-01-2010, 08:59 PM

I found it and one of the water rails put in a fleeting and distant appearance...

Spent the whole day there and have got a mountain of editing to do but here's some to start with...

Bar-headed Goose - A stunning looking bird!

Grey herons (already posted in the Bird of the Day thread).

Dave P.

AshLee · #5 (**permalink**) 11-01-2010, 05:44 AM

Great shots Dave!

sunnydale · #6 (**permalink**) 11-01-2010, 06:03 AM

Lovely photos Neil and Dave. Looks like you both had a great day out

Ukwildlifeo · #7 (**permalink**) 11-01-2010, 10:33 AM

Nice photos dave. I am jealous of those herons in the snow

pressld2 · #8 (**permalink**) 13-01-2010, 06:33 PM

Thanks folks!

Here's a few more geese from my visit...

Barnacle Goose

Greylag Goose

Egyptian Goose

Pink-footed Goose

Canada Goose

Dave P.

AshLee · #9 (**permalink**) 14-01-2010, 06:52 AM

Lovely shots Dave. I assume most of them are part of the wildfowl collection and not wild?

pressld2 · #10 (**permalink**) 14-01-2010, 08:01 AM

Thanks AshLee. That's my assumption but you never can tell. They are not enclosed in any way and don't appear to have had their wings clipped so as far as I can see there's nothing stopping them from leaving the park if they want to. So I wouldn't call them captive birds but, on the other hand, they are fed regularly and cared for by the wildlife officers so they cannot be considered fully wild birds either.

While there I was talking to Tony, the wildlife officer who has kindly agreed to show us round during the April WAB meet, and he had just counted 74 mandarins. I think he said there are only about twenty-something in the official collection so the rest were all just taking advantage of the free grub!

Dave P.