Join us on January 7th to explore the vibrant world of wildfowl in London's parks. Discover the stunning sights and sounds of ducks, geese, and other waterfowl as they enjoy the city's warmer microclimate. Learn about the fascinating behaviors and colorful plumage of species like mallards, tufted ducks, and moorhens. Whether you're a bird enthusiast or just love nature, this article will enrich your winter visits to London's parks.
Article
Wildfowl in Parks
Park lakes such as St James’s Park, Regent’s Park and many others are now crowded with wildfowl which have flown in to enjoy the city’s slightly warmer microclimate. One of the finest sights of the month is the teams of ducks resplendent after their eclipse, exhibiting their coloured, sometimes iridescent, feathers which are now in perfect condition
As courting has started for a number of species there is much excessive splashing, swimming in circles together, shaking of wings and unnecessary head dipping, all adding to the crowded, often noisy spectacle.
Large numbers of Canada geese, tufted duck and pochard have started to swell the ranks of our resident pinioned collections. Canada geese tend to get noticed more in tight groups on small ponds or grazing in grassy areas particularly towards the end of the month.
They are very gregarious geese, all probably descended from a small number of individuals brought to England in the seventeenth century as ornamental wildfowl for private lakes. Charles the second is credited with adding them to his own collection in St James’s park in 1678. Many Londoners admire their black necks and handsome white cravats.
They fly fast for geese and often trumpet loudly as they go. Other Londoners dislike them due to their habit of congregating in parks and defaecating every four minutes. They are probably noticed more as they are often reluctant to fly away when people approach them. They certainly seem to have little fear of park users and are often credited with pecking them if they get too near. If January is colder than usual they leave our parks looking for better places to feed.
Male mallards now have the deepest iridescent green heads and two dark curls which stand out on their rumps. Both sexes also have a bluish-purple speculum. Tufted ducks have a soft blue beak and a golden eye. The distinctive tuft on their heads points backwards, easily catching the wind. Large numbers of tufted ducks at this time of year have migrated here from Eastern Europe and possibly as far away as Siberia. As it gets colder and they get hungrier, these immigrants lose their initial shyness and allow park goers to feed them.
They have a dumpy, comical appearance when on land, as being diving ducks their legs are positioned towards the back of their bodies. Consequently, this gives them a penguin-like gait when walking on land. They are expert divers and our most common diving duck. Normally they dive five or six feet for fish, frogs and insects, but have been known to dive as deep as forty feet.
Moorhens are now spending a lot more time on land. They have a habit of hiding in undergrowth then making a mad dash for the water when discovered. This is when you see their exotic lime-green legs, red garter and snowy-white undertail coverts. The coverts are constantly raised up and down in alarm. Like its gallinule relations it walks daintily and raises and lowers this puff of white feathers when in any way agitated.
The unusual name Coot at one time pronounced “cute” in some places, comes from the Welsh for short-tailed hen. They are on land less than moorhens, but when they are they also show their lime-green feet. These feet are noticeably more webbed than those of the moorhen, making their walking a little more awkward, almost waddling.
. ‘Crazy as a coot’ may refer to their habit of slightly tumbling from side to side when in water, or perhaps because they sometimes return tail first to the surface after a dive. It is probably more likely to be due to their notoriously quarrelsome noisy behaviour. They are always fighting, jerking their heads and thrashing their feet. ‘Bald as a coot’ definitely refers to the featherless shield on the front of their heads.
‘Queer as a coot’, not heard much these days, could refer to various odd behaviour patterns not least their habit of occasionally turning to cannibalism. Even though they seem so irritated by the presence of their own kind they are never seen alone and truly vast congregations are known to occur in other parts of Europe.
Other than our park lakes, the Wetland centre at Barnes is a good place to see a much greater variety of wildfowl this month especially wigeon, teal, shelduck, shoveller, gadwall and perhaps even pintail and goldeneye.
