Friday 9 May 2014

The Mute Swans on the Long Water do after all have seven cygnets -- the last one made its appearance today. They are already off the nest and their proud parents were parading them around the Long Water and touting for food at Peter Pan, with great success because the cygnets are irresistible.


Also at Peter Pan, a new brood of nine Mandarin ducklings appeared briefly before their parents sensibly took them into the bushes.


Only eight are visible in this picture, as one was behind its mother.

And at the Vista there was another brood of three Mandarins.


There are fewer Herring Gulls on the lake than last week, so maybe some of these little creatures will survive. Mandarins have bred successfully on the Long Water a couple of time, but they do much better on the Regent's Canal, where the bushes on either side provide plenty of cover.

Mallards have bred in the Dell, the first time I have seen this. Here they are at the bottom of the waterfall, photographed from the path above.


The Dell is a good place for ducklings, largely ignored by gulls (till now, anyway) and with plenty of cover.

The Coots that nested in the small boathouse had some chicks and soon lost them. The area outside the building has been thick with gulls. Now they are trying again, in a nest at the far end of the building as you look in from the shore.


A young Starling was peering out of its nest in one of the plane trees near the boathouses. It was looking up because one of its parents was on a branch above it, and it wanted to be fed.


There was a constant procession of Starlings flying from these trees across the lake to the Lido restaurant to scavenge food for the young birds.

2 comments:

  1. Beautiful post, as usual. I particularly like the young starling, looking a bit dazzled by the light of the outside world

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