Egyptian geese: new goslings on the move...

Try large to experience the full, downy cuteness.

This afternoon I went to the large pond on Wandsworth Common to see how the young Egyptian goslings are getting on... The amount of activity on that pond is remarkable: swans, geese, ducks, coots, moorhens, and herons; now there are also goslings, ducklings (both mallard and tufted), cootlings, and moorhenlings... It is amazing; a wonderful nursery.

When I arrived at the pond, there was a heron perching high up in a weeping willow, which I thought would be my blip for the day; it was near the top, but standing out very clearly on the outside of the main umbrella of leaves, bluey-grey against a sea of pale green.

But then I saw the goslings (sigh); they're SO adorable.
It is interesting, because this family is quite different from the other one: in this family the mother is the hyper-fuss-pot, and the father is relatively quiet and calm; these goslings are much less skittish and mind much less if you get very close to them, and are also much more active generally. They are also more independent, and form much less tight of a huddle when they move, to the point where the goslings get a long way from their parents... Today, for example, one became separated from the rest, and was by itself for at least 20 minutes (out of sight of the rest of its family).

The mallard ducklings are also very sweet: there are two sets, one more developed than the other... They are quite confident too, and even came over to investigate when I held out a hand as though offering food: I had no food, and one of them nipped me twice (justice)... They were right by me at the edge of the water, and one ducked its head under the surface to find food on the bottom, so I stroked its downy back gently; it noticed but didn't mind terribly, and only scuttled off when the others did.

This picture was of the goslings moving from the water's edge up onto the bank to graze, in a line, because they're super-cute...