Stormy nights and misty mornings

Leisurely preen

On colder mornings the swans spend at least an hour at the feeding station hoping for extra hand-outs. When they finally accept that feeding time is over, they relax mid-stream for a serious preen. This one caught my eye when it was backlit by the early morning sun for a moment. It's warm breath laced the cold air in wisp of vapour.

The mandarin ducks are back

Four days ago I noticed that the mandarin ducks were back after disappearing for several months from the scene. They're quite bold and the female stands right up close to the sliding doors and pecks on the glass for attention.

A typical misty scene for this time of year

It's time for the kids to leave

Every morning I'm greeted by the parent swans, three cygnets, the black swan, fifteen to twenty ducks, the two fat ladies and an assortment of tufted ducks and coots. Feeding them all is quite a challenge as they fight each other instead of getting stuck in! The two fat ladies eat what they can from the communal platform and then swim over to me to be hand fed. If I'm not careful, I nearly trip over a drake every time I move as he follows me like a dog and stands right by my feet hoping for his own private supply of wheat. If I feed him separately he is immediately driven off by other ducks and returns to my side. One day, if I'm not careful, I'll trip over him! Meanwhile Bidou, the black swan, expects to be fed in her usual spot but the swans and cygnets are wise to this and chase her off. After 10 minutes, things quieten down a bit (apart from the swans) and then some of the more shy ducks, like Lonely, turn up for their turn.

Battered by rain

During last night's storms winds gusted to 75mph and are still brisk this morning with a threat of more squalls to come. Yesterday this rose looked lovely but it's taken a fair battering overnight.

The end of an Indian summer

The lovely Indian summer is gradually coming to an end. We've started getting heavy rain at times and the temperatures have dropped significantly. I still haven't had to wrap my citrus trees in fleece yet, but it's handy for when the first frost is forecast. This morning is bright and sunny so I was able to take this picture of Bidou (below) stretching her wings after having chased one of the cygnets away from the food supply. It's almost a game with her. She picks on one of the cygnets and chases it round and round the boat until she gets bored. Apart from grabbing it by the neck or tail feathers occasionally, she does nothing else to harm it.

Bidou enjoying a leisurely stretch

A stream in Bushy Park

When the weather forecast predicted the end of the warm, sunny days, I grabbed the opportunity to take a walk in the park late one afternoon. The sun disappears from the woodland gardens all too early, but I still enjoyed the more muted light that lent a softer hue to the autumm colours. I had hoped to see some deer on my walk but not one showed as much as its antlers.

Tufted duck enjoying the early morning sunshine

The tufted ducks are so tame these days, having become habituated to humans. Dozens of them spend the day under the overhang of our walkway, taking advantage of any food that I put out for the swans and ducks. They love wheat and dive for the grains that are spilled by the careless ducks. At the moment the water is really clear, so we can watch them swimming underwater as they search for the wheat. Some of them now use our main plank to 'haul out' and preen, which is great, because one doesn't normally see tufties on dry land. The coots chase them off if they want the plank for themselves but, occasionally, the tufties have a chance to clean up and have a quiet kip without being disturbed.

The pond in late autumn

The leaves on our Acer have turned a magnificent rusty red and the pond plants, instead of dying off, seem to be growing again. There are gorgeous new flowers on the marsh marigold and one of the other plants is putting out new shoots. Even the watercress is doing well.

The Indian summer continues

We were surprised to see a coot carry a small fish to the floating platform outside our foredeck yesterday and attempt to swallow it. We've never seen a coot with a fish before and this one tried to swallow the fish whole. Before I could grab my camera, a gull swept down and grabbed the fish from the coot, before being mobbed by a dozen gulls.

A few minutes later we watched a tufted duck settle on the platform to preen and then it stood and flapped its wings for several minutes as if attempting a vertical take-off.

Last week, when I was on the phone to a friend, I saw a large fish leap clear from the river twice. What was strange was that the fish appeared to have a bright red band around its middle, like a sash. It seemed to twist as it flew through the air and I wondered whether it were trying to free itself from some jetsam that had become wrapped around it.

Two elegant 'old ladies'

This stretch of river between Molesey Lock and Sunbury Lock is not only beautiful but steeped in history. On Sunday, as we watched TheYarmouth Belle (built 1892) pass the houseboat Astoria (1911), we were impressed by the classical elegance of boat design in former years.

Parakeets are as devious as magpies

Parakeets are clever at accessing food and over time we've seen them prize off lids from peanut feeders and dump them in the river in order to snack on whole peanuts. In this picture you can see a fat ball lodged in the tree that a parakeet has dragged from the container for a more comfortable and leisurely meal!

Down the hatch!

As we approached this cormorant we noticed it was showing signs of indigestion! It lifted most of its body from the water, arched its neck and swallowed, before taking a final drink to wash the catch down.

Dinghy racing

These colourful craft added to the glorious autumnal glow on the river. There was a brisk breeze, accompanied by bright, warm sunshine on Sunday, and the competitors made the most of the perfect conditions.

Winter time, it's official, but no one told the wildlife!

Another stunning evening in Hampton

We may, officially, have entered Winter time with the clocks going back an hour last night, but the weather belies this. At present it's sunny and an amazing 24.1 C on our deck and we've been watching a red admiral butterfly take advantage of the warm sunshine. Meanwhile, I'm still harvesting tomatoes from the garden deck and the baby aubergines are thriving.

Sunning themselves before bed time

The two fat ladies love to warm themselves in the dying rays of the late autumn sunshine. After an early supper they head for Duck Ait where they preen and then sit and face the evening sun. They give us a wake up call each morning, making such a racket that it's impossible to ignore them. Neither of us can get back to sleep once they come calling for their breakfast! Unusually, for ducks, they are happy to share their food and never peck each other, taking it in turn to hand feed. They're gentle ducks . . . but very noisy!

Another regular at Duck Ait

Most evenings we see this heron preen and settle on Duck Ait. Watching the ducks, geese and herons gather here at sundown reminds us of Key West in Florida, where sunset attracts a huge crowd of locals and visitors alike. We've been fortunate enough to have some stunning sunsets this autumn.

Not in our back river!

Resident swans chase rival cygnet

A cygnet from the upstream family of swans was foolish enough to stray into our swan family's territory and was seriously attacked. It managed to escape but didn't learn a lesson and was soon cornered by dad, mum and the three cygnets. It kept trying to climb out onto the bank but was dragged under by the attacking swans. It didn't stand a chance and, in the end, Dave went across in the boat to hold off the attackers long enough for the cygnet to escape.

A cygnet chases off one of its own family

The cygnets are learning to defend their territory and are quite happy to attack each other. Meanwhile Bidou, the black swan, takes great delight in chasing all the cygnets. Perhaps she sees it as payback time for all her humiliations throughout the year at the hands of the parent mute swans.

Early morning sun catches the autumn foliage

There was the most glorious light on the trees one morning this week. The river took on a golden hue as it reflected the lovely autumn colour in the trees on the opposite bank.

Evening sun on the bank opposite

We've had a lovely autumn and have managed to get out in the boat regularly, if only for a half hour trip upstream, round the islands and back again. The evening light looks so restful as the sun's low rays slant through the trees but the scene was far from peaceful on Monday night at around 10.30pm. The silence was broken by the sound of many police sirens. Then I heard what sounded like a mini bike racing along the towpath from the Hurst Park direction before stopping close by. A minute later a number of policemen/women ran along the towpath from the Molesey direction and there were flashlights and people shouting for a while. Finally, a helicopter was sent up to scour the area so presumably the fugitive wasn't found. Later I saw more police searching with flashlights among the trees and shrubs. If anyone reading this knows what happened, please put us out of our suspense!

A garden on the riverbank en route to Sunbury weir stream

Whenever it's sunny we try to make the most of the river by taking our day boat up or down stream. The air is getting chillier in the late afternoon but the light is quite lovely when the sky is so clear. It's interesting to see how far some of our local wildlife travels. The two fat ladies have completely recovered now from the loss of their male partner and use Duck Ait as their base. They swim around some of the island and into the lagoon but don't circumnavigate the island. Bidou travels as far as Platts Eyot, however, and I've also seen some of the ducks that come to feed daily in the Platts Eyot area later in the day.

Party in the park

Red sky at night

This delightful sunset melted into a chill, still night, perfect conditions for a party in the park - a stag party, that is. As the night progressed testosterone charged stags got rowdy, fighting ensued and the deep-throated bellowing of rutting red deer woke us at 3.00am.

Hungover the next day?

The following day I wandered over to the park to see some action but most of the deer were either hunkered down nurturing 'antler ache' or keeping a watchful eye on the hinds (female deer) they'd 'won over'. Several lone stags did their best to impress any hind in two minds about their choice of partner, but there were no attempts to 'steal' peripheral members of the harem from inattentive rivals.

If at first you don't succeed . . .

. . . try and try again

A stag, previously hidden by bracken, sauntered past me and stood close to some grazing hinds in an attempt to proclaim his prowess. They ignored him! His heart wasn't in it and he soon ambled off to look for action elsewhere.

Time for a little lunch

Leaving the stag to nurse his dented pride I noticed a heron heading for a stretch of water where gulls were skimming the surface for food. The heron had lunch on its mind but the gulls had no intention of sharing, and several dive-bombed it.

What the devil . . .

I'll get those gulls

Hunting in pairs

Cormorants have been fishing in twos and threes over the last few weeks and are doing very nicely, thank you! The river is teaming with fish, providing a plentiful supply.

This one was successful at almost every attempt

One final fish for breakfast

Two neighbours fish from their decks and the cormorants target their boats when they arrive for breakfast and lunch. Presumably there are more fish nearby because of the bait used to attract fish by the fishermen - an example of a healthy symbiotic relationship between humans and wildlife. Sadly not all fishermen have such a laissez-faire attitude to wildlife and we witnessed a cormorant, hooked by fishermen trolling from their boat, being dragged through the water, desperately trying to free itself. What sickened us was the fact that the fishermen maintained their speed and only slowed to a near stand-still when we called to them to slow down and headed towards them in our boat. They managed to free the cormorant and raced away before we reached them, and we stayed to check on the cormorant. In spite of its ordeal, it seemed fine and continued to dive and surface without showing signs of distress. There were no tell tale signs of fishing line to concern us.

Greenfinch with little fear

A rather scruffy greenfinch frequents our window feeder and spends ages sitting in the dish. It feasts on sunflower hearts, spitting out the bits it doesn't want. These fall to the ground and are eaten by the pigeons or ducks, depending on which species gets to them first.

Time for a drink

After a hearty meal the bird heads for the pond, first for a drink, and afterwards for a bath. It has learnt to balance on one of the waterlily leaves or on my watercress and bathe safely from there.

The two fat ladies

Following the death of Grey Job the two fat ladies have been noticeably subdued and off their food. For over a week they hung around Patrick's garden instead of spending the night on Duck Ait, a much safer venue. Unfortunately for Patrick, they liked the shelter of his porch and the comfort of his doormat. The mess on his mat the following day had to be seen to be believed! We tried to discourage them by obscuring the walkway with plant pots but they found their way around them and continued to 'bed down' on his doorstep. His garden looked like the contents of a feather pillow had been scattered over it, while the ground was pebble-dashed with massive amounts of excrement, so Patrick was relieved when their period of mourning was over and they made Duck Ait their home once more.

A splash of autumn colour

A hollow tree trunk

There are plenty of trees like this in Bushy Park. It's such a bonus to have the park on our doorstep with its wilderness areas and its beautiful woodland gardens. Yesterday, while out photographing the deer, I was fortunate enough to come across a huge number of deer, gently grazing and enjoying the warm sunshine. Most of the stags were resting, so there was very little happening until a dog started chasing the deer, rushing at them and startling them all. If the owner had been anywhere in view they would have been in trouble for allowing their dog to attack the deer.

Difficult times on the river

Three Cygnets

Only four cygnets turn up to be fed these days and we presume that the fifth one is already independent. Sadly, the sixth one died two weeks ago, possibly hit by a boat or by rowers. The mother lingered beside the body for a while, distressed, nudging the dead cygnet and calling to it. It's a very sad sight. I've seen ducks and coots 'mourn' beside their dead partners or young, and there's a part of me that cries inside and mourns with them. After all these years I still haven't managed to distance myself emotionally.

The two fat ladies, the large white ducks I wrote about last time, are also in mourning at the moment. Grey Job, their male escort who's been in this area for at least 10 years, must have died. I hand fed him on Wednesday and he seemed fine, but he failed to appear on Thursday. Only one of the fat ladies turned up and she seemed very distressed and disorientated. She hardly quacked and didn't feed. Later in the day both fat ladies turned up without Grey Job and they were very subdued and wouldn't eat. On Friday, they re-located to our neighbour's garden but still didn't eat and were almost silent. In the evening we thought that the older one was dying, she kept wobbling and falling over and she slumped forward on the ground with her wings spread. To our surprise they were both around on Saturday but neither came to feed though they both seemed a little more active. Today, however, they are recovering and both hand fed from me this morning so I think the worst might be over.

Deer in the Woodland Garden

I went for a walk in Bushy Park to my favourite woodland garden and came across a deer, grazing on the greenery. Deer aren't supposed to be inside the fenced garden because of the damage they do but I've seen at least five or six on occasions. I don't suppose the park rangers are too happy about their presence within the gardens!

Frog in pond

I went with a friend to Garson's Farm in Esher and wandered around the garden centre. There's a lovely pond there with plenty of frogs and this one posed for the camera.

Josie and Otter

Near neighbour, Josie, whose baby is due any time now, still manages to look decidedly glamourous. She looked so cool here, making the most of the fine weather, that Dave had to take a photo. Otter, her lovely dog, agreed to pose with her!

Astoria at sundown

It has been a glorious week or so and we've managed to go out in the boat most evenings before the sun loses all its warmth. On Friday, when the skies were clear the whole day, Astoria reflected the dying rays of the sun after a wonderfully warm day.

Clear blue skies over Hampton

It might be late September but the temperatures here have been higher than in parts of southern Europe. We've been fortunate to have had bright sunny weather with temperatures as high as 30 C - it's 25 C in the shade at the moment! The view is of Hampton Church, with the sailing club in the foreground, late in the afternoon.

Safe sanctuary for birds on Duck Ait

As evening approaches Duck Ait begins to get crowded as herons, swans, geese, mallards, cormorants, coots, moorhens, tufted ducks, grebes and hybrid ducks seek out a safe haven for the night. Even the occasional gull stops off there for a rest. This is where the two fat ladies and Grey Job chose to roost at night but, since Grey Job's demise, the girls have taken to hauling out on my neighbour's landing stage.

The final flower

The last water lily of the year graced our pond with its beauty for a few days this week. I'm so pleased that we've had a number of flowers after three abortive attempts.

A special anniversary

My husband was surprised to see two strangers sitting in deck chairs in the island's sunken garden sipping champagne. He was delighted to learn that they'd met each other 50 years previously at The Karsino on Taggs Island and were celebrating the anniversary of their meeting. The gentleman has on his lap a copy of the programme/invitation from the event at the Karsino, which was a famous hotel on Taggs Island originally owned by Fred Karno (whose boat Astoria was featured earlier in this blog.

Contrails in the evening sky

One of the 'down' sides of living close to Heathrow Airport is the noise and pollution we have to endure. Concorde was the only plane to pollute our skies in her glory days and none of us minded her because she was such a magnificent sight, in spite of the noise. I remember seeing her one evening, flying over our house, and the last rays of the sun turned her to liquid gold. Nowadays the air and noise pollution from Heathrow and Gatwick are appalling, in spite of what the government and the authorities would have us believe, but at least the vapour trails are picturesque at times.

One of many Little Ships making its way upstream

Each year we watch a flotilla of Little Ships, the boats that rescued brave men from Dunkirk, make their way upstream carrying veterans from the war. Twenty boats left from Kingston to Weybridge on this year's Annual Veterans Cruise. Two Chelsea Pensioners enjoy the ride on this one.

Islanders' worst nightmare

Thank heavens everyone escaped before the boat sank. Almost a month ago now a near tragedy unfolded as one of the island's houseboats sank. Family and friends managed to escape just in time but the event has shocked many of us. The family has been incredibly strong and brave following this event and we hope that their salvaged home, once it has dried out and been repaired, will soon be habitable. It would seem that a lump of concrete campshedding was responsible for eventually 'holing' the boat. If the accident had happened in winter in the dark who knows what might have happened.

The boat leaves it's mooring

Heading for the dry dock

Safety in sight

Flying lessons for swans

Parents have been showing their kids the ropes when it comes to the art of flight. Not every take off has been successful but at last the cygnets are getting the hang of it. Soon they will be driven off by their parents.

It's a good life

Breakfast over, this cygnet has spent time preening and is now loafing around in the quiet of the early morning enjoying the sunshine. It's too much of an effort to paddle with both feet!