Some geese and a couple of manky mallards

I know, I mean, well manky is not a nice word but it seems among British birdwatching folks these beautiful mallard hybrids have been given this disparaging soubriquet, manky mallards. Maybe that says more about the birdwatchers than these individuals.

Manky, moi?

This guy was the size of a goose. Who are you calling manky?

Reflecting on the Anser

There are those who think that Grey Lag Geese get their name from their habit of being the last to migrate in Winter, in other words they lag behind. This makes no sense to this poor fool as other European languages simply call this bird 'grey goose' (Grauwe Gans, Graugans, Grågås, Oie Cendrée and so on). So a little bit of detective work pulled out another derivation that says that 'lag' is an ancient word for goose, a 13^th century text refers to 'redlag' which is supposed to translate as 'reed goose', and the lag part reflecting in some way the noise made by these birds. Scientists with no sense of romance simply call them Anser anser or goosey goose if you like. 

Weekend Reflections are here.

A stroll in the park

Paid an end of year visit to East Park partly to check if the goosanders have arrived (they have) and partly because East Park is never dull even on a damp and dreary December afternoon. And so it was that my progress was halted by a long file of greylags taking their evening promenade in such an orderly fashion along this tree lined avenue.

Autumn in East Park

I don't have much attraction to east Hull, it's a fairly bleak and dismal place with few attractions. But it does have East Park and at this time of year with the sun heading down it's a most pleasant place.

Geese in flight

They say a poor workman blames his tools so I'm blaming my camera's delay for the slight blur not to say lack of focus on these shots.  

Follow my leader