This pond in a park in N London was once full of water and peopled by swans, mallards, shovelers et al.
Disused as a pond for a few years now, it’s been occupied by a motley community of plants.
Now in bloom, I salute the Michaelmas daisies, whose taste for hybridisation and back-crossing have a laugh at our taxonomic efforts. I'll just note down #Symphyotrichum and enjoy the views.
3/5
Ditto about the willowness - #Salix, I jot down.
Only saplings for now, but give them a bit more time @haringeycouncil (and I trust you will) and we'll ask for TPOs on them.
I like how a mature - I believe - #CrackWillow overlooks the pond like a mamma duck her ducklings.
4/5
More proper riparian, perhaps chasing the phantom of the long-gone pond, I love to find Common Club-rush and Common Reed (if I got these IDs right) #Schoenoplectus_lacustris and #Phragmites_australis.
5/5
And here for a group picture of Michaelmas daisies, Willow and Club-rush all sharing the same crack of hope.
These non-natives moved in earlier this Spring and have been in flower ever since, seemingly quite happy with our London stock bricks. I'm quite happy too to relish in the little chaos they've brought.
A few of these wee ones have settled on our wall this year. They are originally from rocky landscapes in southern Africa, but I suspect ours jumped the fence across from our Irish neighbours, who used to have a window box full of them.
My associate advises me of a new clutch of seven #TuftedDuck#ducklings at the Boating Lake at Ally Park, apparently seen around first a few days back @FriendsAllyPark
6 days later, 2 #Mallard#ducklings lost to the cosmos. Among the 6 remaining, the 1 whose down is quite more yellow than the rest of siblings'. At the Boating Lake in Alexandra Park @FriendsAllyPark
These 6 #Mallard#ducklings keep on getting bigger. I think they must be 3 weeks old or so by now.
@birdingetc: is the more yellow duckling a sign of hybrid wild/domestic breeding?