Tuesday 10 February 2015

The young Scaup was back on the Round Pond, after spending a couple of days on the Serpentine. Even since my last picture three days ago he has changed his appearance noticeably, with much more white on his sides. He is now looking almost like an adult Scaup from a distance. As you can see, he is also moulting the juvenile brown feathers from his back.


There was a good deal of traffic from the Round Pond to the main lake, with Greylag Geese ...


... and Mute Swans heading for the Serpentine.


Later I saw these swans venturing under the bridge on to the Long Water, where no doubt the dominant swan attacked them and chased them away. Inexperienced swans from the Round Pond don't know they will get a hostile reception.

A Coot was building a nest near Peter Pan, far too early of course, but Coots have a mania for nest building and it keeps them from attacking the other birds.


At the Dell restaurant, the familiar Grey Heron was posing for its photograph. This bird is so used to being given food that it has lost all fear of people.


Nearby, a Great Crested Grebe caught a perch, in the same place as the Cormorant I photographed yesterday. This is now a better place to fish than the wire baskets near the bridge, which Cormorants have almost fished bare. All the fish that I have seen caught in the past few months are perch, although the lake also contains carp, bream and roach.


One of the Coal Tits in the leaf yard finally came down to take food from my hand, twice. One of these times I was talking to some French tourists and not paying attention to the birds, which probably encouraged it.


The male Tawny Owl was out in his usual place by 3.30, by which time it was too dark for a good picture.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Ralph, the Little Owl was present today at 16:45, he was peeking out the hole and allowed us to watch for about 5 mins, I tried to approach but within about 2m he'd retired back into the hole. The Tawny Owl was also present in his usual spot at 17:00.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks. Glad to hear that the Little Owls are hanging on to the hole despite pressure from Stock Doves. There were two Jackdaws on the tree as well at midday.

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