Sunday 1 February 2015

The star of today's show was a Song Thrush. It was on the edge of the leaf yard, in a place where half a dozen people were feeding the tits, casually wandering around almost under their feet. These normally very shy birds can become quite bold when no one is paying any attention to them, and the people were so intent on feeding that they didn't notice it was there. Also, there were a lot of worms in the muddy ground, and it pulled up two in two minutes.


This Nuthatch in the leaf yard had other food on its mind, as it was waiting for me to put some pine nuts on the railings.


The beech hedge of the 'Twisty Path' at Kensington Palace is full of Blackbirds, Tits, Robins, Wrens and several Dunnocks, of which this is one, excellently camouflaged among the fallen leaves.


The Scaup was still on the Round Pond, and annoyingly in the exact centre so that he had to be photographed from a considerable distance. It is very easy to miss him entirely, and I did the first time I went past the pond.


A pair of Moorhens have taken possession of the floating skip near Peter Pan, and chase off gulls that dare to land on it.


The Little Owl was in the same hole in the oak tree near the bicycle path in Kensington Gardens. You have to wait a few minutes for it to come and look out of the hole.


The male Tawny Owl was very late to emerge from his tree. After several failures, I went back after half past four, when it was nearly dark. On the way I found some Redwings, one of which was also pulling up a late worm.


And the owl was there at last. You could hardly see him, let alone get a reasonable picture. But the day wouldn't have been complete without a sight of this splendid bird.

10 comments:

  1. The Little Owl? You mean the Tawny Owl.
    Mario

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    1. Thanks. Careless of me, but I am in a rush today. Corrected.

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  2. I saw a Maned Goose near the Round Pond today - presumably an escaped bird?

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    1. Must be. I think I've seen some captives in St James's Park.

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  3. hi ralph. what an interesting collection of images from such a horrid day! the nuthatch always manages to look soooo elegant. have the redwings re-occupied the fenced off area of the parade ground mangled by the fair yet?
    Mark W2

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    1. The Redwings were on the patch of bare leafmould under three plane trees bordering the path past the Speke obelisk. They've been here before recently. The leafmould was laid in some experiment to see if it improved the condition of the trees, though I don't know how they could measure this. Anyway, it seems to have a lot of worms in it.

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  4. Hi Ralph. Great blog! Where exactly is the Little Owl tree? I would like to pay them a visit soon. Many thanks, Charlie (south London birder).

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    1. Thanks. In the case of this Little Owl (what I call 'the second owl', not the well known pair near the leaf yard), start on the north side of the Albert Memorial and walk north towards the statue of Physical Energy. When you get to the bicycle path, turn left -- west -- and count trees immediately next to the left side of the path, ignoring any that are out of that line. The fourth tree has the Little Owls' hole in it. You need to view the tree from the south side, that is, the side away from the path. Seen from this side, there is a thick horizontal branch sticking out about 35 feet up the trunk, with a large bulge in it and a large round hole in the bulge.

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  5. Lovely photos, especially the Little Owl.
    Do you know what the plans are for the area opposite Peter Pan. The skip has been there a while now. Sue

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    1. Thanks. The skip's just parked while the work goes on. They'll probably need it again for hauling reeds and things. It certainly hasn't been abandoned. I've talked to the workmen. They're responsible professionals.

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