Saturday 20 May 2017

Today brought the first sighting of a young Pied Wagtail on the Round Pond. Its mother flew off ...


... and hunted insects for it over the water.


The changeable weather had brought the insects down low over the water, where they were being hoovered up by Swifts ...


... and House Martins.


The Grey Wagtail that is often seen near the Diana fountain landing stage, and which was in such bad condition that I thought it was a goner, is still with us and is regrowing its lost tail feathers with remarkable speed.


The young Grey Heron was calling for food from the usual tree. It is now looking almost like a fully grown first year bird, and it will be feeding itself soon.


Its parents were on the electric boat, whose glass roof covered with solar panels is a comfortable place to stand.


The Great Crested Grebe chick and its mother were out of sight behind the baskets surrounding the island, but far out in the middle of the lake its father could be seen bringing a perch. The chick will be able to swallow a fish this size now.


The families of geese and swans were out and about, but there are too many now to have pictures of all of them. Here are the Mute Swans on the Long Water ...


... one of the Greylag families under the willows on the south shore of the Serpentine ...


... and a Canada family coming ashore to graze.


The geese are completely unworried by the humans surrounding them and taking photographs, as long as there are no dogs.

Both the Blue Tit parents nesting in the lamp post in the Rose Garden were bringing caterpillars to the nestlings.


There is a cedar tree at the entrance to the garden, and one of the local pair of Coal Tits was hopping around in it.


The alliums in the garden are a magnet for Buff-Tailed Bumblebees.


The Little Owl at the leaf yard was high up on his usual branch, staring suspiciously ...


... at a Magpie on a twig below him.


But he stood his ground and was still there when I went back an hour later.

8 comments:

  1. Hi Ralph. This morning I came over. I placed a walnut on the railings for a magpie & a bluetit cheekily stole it. The magpie was quite indignant! So funny.

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    1. Good for the Blue Tit. I suppose the walnut wasn't in the shell. I've seen a Great Tit carry off a whole peanut in the shell, but there are limits.

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    2. Oh no, not in the shell, I treated our birdies to a bag of walnut halves. I saw a lesser spotted woodpecker for the first time, but it was shy & flew away.

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    3. Are you sure it was Lesser? They're very rare in the park. Where was it?

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    4. Yes, definitely. It was on the peanut feeder that's been hung up on the big tree, but took off soon as I arrived!

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    5. Thanks. I've seen Greater Spotted Woodpeckers on that feeder. Will keep an eye out.

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  2. Loving this blog. We were on a field trip from City Lit on Saturday and it's great to see your fantastic photos and commentary. We saw the little owl but just for a couple of seconds!

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    1. Very glad you managed to see the owl. He's popping in and out at the moment, so a bit of waiting and revisiting the tree will usually find him.

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