Saturday 3 May 2014

The male Little Owl took advantage of the sunny day to come out and bask on a branch. He was completely unworried by the many humans on a sunny Saturday and stayed out for several hours, going in only when he was attacked by a Carrion Crow.


There was no sign of the female Little Owl -- can she be nesting?

The Tawny Owl was just visible at the back of the horse chestnut tree, but you couldn't see his face.

Another brood of Mallard ducklings has appeared on the Long Water, but probably not for long, as there is a mob of young Herring Gulls and a few Lesser Black-Backs quarrelling and pushing each other off the posts opposite Peter Pan. Here some of them throng round a solitary Cormorant, which dozed and occasionally preened itself on the same post for several hours. It must have been digesting a large meal of fish, as it made no effort to catch any more.


There was a good collection of small birds at the southwest corner of the leaf yard. A Blackcap was singing invisibly in a bush. Nuthatches came down from both nests to take food from the fence.


The male from the nest on the other side of the path sang from the top of a tall lime tree.

The oak tree just outside the leaf yard had a Treecreeper ...


... and a Wren in it.


The young Robins were hopping around on the ground in the Dell, completely ignoring the crowds on the path and  calling for food. One of them was given a caterpillar, and the other had to wait.

3 comments:

  1. Wonderful finds, all of them! Amazing that on such a busy day in the park you could still find and photograph these birds. The Robins are adorable.

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  2. It was good to meet you again in the park. All today's pictures were taken on a line no more than 250 yards long, one of the few quiet places in the park on a sunny Saturday.

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    Replies
    1. Well, five of them -- not the Robins, who were in a very busy place indeed but too young to be wary.

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