Stocker’s Lake is a beautiful haven as these early morning pictures, I hope, demonstrate, and as such it is a calming influence after a busy week
But as I have said before, while you could describe the lake, or certainly stretches of it, as quiet, the ‘inhabitants’ can be quite noisy.
And yesterday some of the noisiest rabble rousers were back in force.
It’s not that the Canada Geese ever completely disappeared but their numbers dropped. Today however they were back – one or two solitary ones, a few pairs, but mostly in larger groups.
They came flying in over the lake, splashing down, honking as they flew. I’ve read that this honking while flying is a means of keeping the flock together and it’s certainly loud enough to be heard from the front to the back of any flock.
They also seem to honk before taking off. One starts, others join in, and then, as the noise levels rise, they are away. The honking can’t be described as a beautiful or harmonious bird song but hearing it made me realise that I had missed it.
It set the tone for a day of returning themes – trying to catch a good image of a tern in flight
Some pictures of herons
And cormorants – swimming and diving for fish
It was also a day of opposites, not just the honking geese but their noisy neighbours, the gulls,
which contrasted with the gentle and intricate beauty of the wildflowers growing along the paths
Another nettle, complete with insect
And to cap it off, it was a day to get a couple of pictures of a little cute long-tailed tit.
In this last picture I don’t think he was looking up at some incoming geese, but then again maybe…
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