Wino Wendys Wildlife World : Mum's Birthday

I had such plans for today. Mum had already decided she wanted to visit Kensington Gardens to hand feed the birds, then have a spot of lunch at the nearby Wholefoods, and back to Mum's for a couple of glasses of wine.......which all suited me absolutely fine. I figured I'd go to Kensington Gardens early to get my 'bird photography' fix then meet up with Mum and spend the rest of the day doing what the 'Birthday Girl' wanted to do.

But disaster struck before I had even left my home when I found out my Sony a580 camera is not working. As many of you know my newest camera, the Sony a77, stopped working a while ago and I was using the a580 as a stand by camera. Now I had no camera at all.

Some of you may think that's no big deal, but to me it is a huge deal. I can put plenty of my thoughts and observations into words, but I often rely on my camera to provide what my eye observes too.

Not only that but I'm due to go on a mini-break next week, and with where I am going it would have been pointless going without a camera. So I was very down heartened by the time it came to meet up with Mum.

A short while later, after a very tasty lunch at Wholefoods, it was Mum to the rescue. Dipping in to Bank of Mum we walked back to Kensington Gardens with a new purchase, a new camera. It's only a Sony a58 which is very much down in rank from the a77, but it's a camera, it works and it made me smile again. I'm not a spoilt brat, I will be paying my Mum every penny back, it just wasn't quite the birthday she expected ! Ha ha.

So not many photos from today as it was by this time mid afternoon.

Mixing with the Egyptian and Greylag Geese by the Round Pond is an exotic newcomer. A male Maned Goose. Usually they are found in Australia and are also known as the Australian Wood Duck. It's obviously a fence hopping escapee from a nearby collection rather than a mega rarity, and it's a little aggressive towards the other geese, but he's quite the stunner.....

size comparison between Maned Goose and Greylag Goose

Up by the leaf litter yard we found lots of small birds eager to be fed. Because they are so used to us human beans, you can get really close to them which makes for some lovely detailed photography (even with a new camera who's settings you haven't quite worked out yet......)

Great Tit

Coal Tit

More about the little birds later.....

Up by the Italian Gardens we found an unusual plant. We both know we have probably seen it before, possibly at RHS Wisley, but cannot put a name to it, so if anyone knows what it is please feel free to comment.....

It looked as if someone had just randomly thrown a bunch of plants on to the ground, but when you looked closely they were actually emerging from the soil like giant buds. My photos show the 'bud' in the first one, the second photo shows at what stage most of the 'plants' were at and the third photo shows a more 'older' plant......