Wednesday 12 March 2014

A different pair of Little Owls have appeared in Kensington Gardens. Paul Turner spotted them this morning while looking for possible Tawny Owlets, because at that time the male Tawny Owl was not visible. They were in and around a hollow branch in an oak tree. Here one of them looks out of a hole in the branch ...


... while the other one, higher up on the other side of the tree, enjoys a good scratch.


The Little Owls' tree is the one where the Tawny owlets were first spotted in 2012. It is near the bicycle path that runs between the Serpentine Gallery and the Round Pond. This is intersected at a shallow angle by a path running between the southwest corner of the park at Kensington High Street and the Serpentine bridge. Just south of the junction is an oak tree. A few feet south of this is another oak, and this is the one with the Little Owls in it. The large and obvious hole can be seen from the south side of the tree, on a branch projecting eastwards.

They are probably the pair that have been seen near the Serpentine Gallery, and possibly the pair that were seen in 2012 near the top of Palace Gate.

Later, the male Tawny Owl turned up in his usual place.


He was there from 3.15, but he isn't behaving predictably at the moment.

Pairs of Long-Tailed Tits can be seen all over the park gathering materials for their large and complex nests. This one has taken a bit of lichen from the branch above.


A Chiffchaff was singing in the top of a tree on the west side of the Long Water near the Queen's Temple.


And there were a couple of Goldfinches eating blossom off a tree to the west of the Hyde Park greenhouses.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Ralph
    The Tawny Owl was showing well at lunchtime (c.12.30).
    Martin

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    Replies
    1. But he went in again soon. I missed him at 1.15 and had to come back later. He is quite restless at the moment, and I hope it's a sign of activity in the tree.

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