West Hallam - Swan Lake Again
w/e 05 July 2020
All of this week's pictures were
taken with a Kodak DX6490
We made the short trip down Derby Road to the very edge of Ilkeston
and crossed the town boundary to West Hallam and Straw's Bridge
Nature Reserve or Swan Lake as it is more commonly known. Once
there we followed a figure of eight route around the two larger
lakes as shown on the plan above with the majority of the images
below coming from around the largest lake.
As we pulled onto the car park this unusual looking bird was
preening itself on a fence post, occasionally lifting its head
to look our way. I'm not sure whether it's a rare breed or just
a normal duck that's been rolling in the dirt and having a bad
hair day!
(I am now reliably informed that this is a Muscovy Duck)
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As we started our walk around the lakes another duck of the mallard
variety was watching her ducklings clambering up the bank.
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Coots were visiting the local take away but found it closed!
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I hadn't noticed the other creature in the water when I took
this photo of the Black-headed Gull but on closer inspection
I think it is probably a water rat.
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We passed under the former railway bridge to walk around the
larger of the other two lakes and across the water spotted a
family of swans complete with several cygnets.
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Returning to the main lake we continued along the opposite side
to the car park noticing many more wild flowers on this side.
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As we neared the car park again Canada Geese were the most prominent
species.
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But there was just one large white duck. I think it is actually
a Pekin Duck and with thoughts of Beatrix Potter's Jemima Puddle-Duck
in mind we walked on.
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Having your ducks in a row means being well-organised. prepared,
and up-to-date and it probably means the same when applied to
swans too.
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We're used to seeing all sorts of birds when visiting Swan Lake
but in all the time we've been going there, we've never seen
water rats before. This time though several of them were scampering
about along the water's edge and scavenging among the tit-bits
left for the birds before disappearing down holes in the bank.
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