Saturday 6 January 2018

An aggressive Coot chased a Black-Headed Gull for some distance along the Serpentine, hoping to snatch its food. I don't know why the gull didn't simply take off.


This gull has been near the island for several days nursing an injuted left wing. But it can lift the wing, so there is a chance that it will recover.


There was another sight of a Little Grebe on the Long Water.


Under the balustrade of the Italian Garden, a Cormorant surfaced with a beakful of algae and no fish, and crossly discarded it.


It was a cold day, and the terrace of the Dell restaurant was deserted apart from a Pied Wagtail looking for bugs.


A Starling probed the broken end of a branch in the leaf yard.


The white-faced Blackbird lurked under a bush near the Italian Garden.


Just two Long-Tailed Tits hunted along the edge of the Serpentine.


The Flower Walk was thronged with hungry Great Tits, Blue Tits and Robins, which came down to my hand again and again.


There was also a Coal Tit, but it takes a while for these tiny birds to learn to trust you.


A pair of Feral Pigeons courted and mated at the Vista. They seemed to have forgotten that it's January.


Yes, I know, yet another video of a Robin singing in the Rose Garden. But there are at least half a dozen of them here, and they are irresistible.


The female Little Owl near the Albert Memorial looked out of her hole in the weak sunshine.


Yesterday Mark Williams saw a Harris Hawk in St James's Park and took this pleasing picture.


These are American birds, but are popular with falconers here for their gregarious and tractable nature. This one had the remains of a jess dangling from one foot, so it had clearly escaped from someone. Mark thought it might be from the man who takes a pair of Harris Hawks to Trafalgar Square to scare off the pigeons, but his hawks are very well trained and probably wouldn't fly away. He has even been seen travelling on a bus with one of them on his wrist. But of course, you never really know what a hawk is going to do.

2 comments:

  1. I know there are a couple of Harris Hawks at schools in the Richmond area as well, so it might have come from there? Who knows.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Indeed. It should do well in a London park with an endless supply of pigeons. But there may be some friction with the Peregrines from the Houses of Parliament.

    ReplyDelete