Monday 18 August 2014

One of the young Tawny Owls was back in the chestnut tree near the leaf yard where it was last seen on 30 July. It is now completely indistinguishable from an adult.


Soon their parents will drive them out to find territories of their own, a tough assignment in London where every local garden square seems to have a Tawny Owl descended from the venerable pair in Kensington Gardens.

Lower in the same tree, a Wren was protesting loudly about having an owl in its territory.


A Hobby also put in an appearance, perched in a tall plane tree in the avenue between the Physical Energy statue and the Albert Memorial.


I would never have seen it if it had not been calling, and even then it took a quarter of an hour of blundering around before I found it.

The young Grey Wagtail was at the east end of the Serpentine, picking insects out of the synthetic matting at the bottom of a floating reed bed.


These little islands have been very successful, and are now thick with plants and thronged with birds. Their only fault is to drag their anchors when there is a strong wind, and one of them has drifted almost inshore and will have to be hauled back.

The mother of the three Great Crested Grebe chicks on the island was bringing them a fish.


Two chicks raced to get it, and the fastest won.


But their mother simply went and caught another and gave to to a different chick. You can see the parents dodging the chick that they have fed last, and they may even push it aside.

The deserted Coots' nest at Peter Pan had the melanistic Mallard drake on it, regrowing his plumage after moulting and already looking quite smart.


I first saw this bird last year. He is not the same as the black and white duck seen in earlier years, which was female and now seems to have disappeared.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the nice photos,as usual (but worth saying once in a while), and well done catching the Hobby sitting still! Good to see the Tawny youngster again.

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    1. Thanks. I've been chasing that Hobby all year.

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