Friday 19 August 2016

On a dull day of intermittent drizzle not much was happening. The male Little Owl near the leaf yard was sitting stoically on his usual branch, getting wet and bedraggled.


One of the Little owlets near the Albert Memorial could just be seen deep inside an oak tree which provided some shelter.


The Mistle Thrushes were out on Buck Hill.


But there was nothing in the rowan trees at the top of the hill except a young Robin.


A Rose-Ringed Parakeet was ripping up a beech tree, and there were bits of torn leaf all over the ground. I think these fresh shoots enclose the developing nuts.


Another parakeet was doing the same in an oak tree. Possibly they find young acorns edible before they harden.

The young Lesser Black-Backed Gull was still begging from its pigeon-hunting parent, and still being met with stony indifference.


The Black Swan was looking on solicitously while the adopted cygnet chewed algae off the wire cages near the bridge.


A Mute Swan was also scraping algae off a buoy. It's remarkable how these big birds manage to thrive on such unpromising-looking stuff.


There was no sign of the Tufted duckling or its mother, but they aren't always in sight. Virginia took this picture yesterday evening of them taking refuge on the island.


The Great Crested Grebes from the Long Water had come on to the Serpentine as far the Lido. This territory belongs to the family from the island, but so far they hadn't been challenged.


A wet day gives birds a chance to enjoy the Diana fountain. Some young Egyptian Geese were playing in the rapids.


And a Lesser Black-Backed Gull found one of the splashy sections a good place to drink.

8 comments:

  1. Oh that lovely young Robin!

    I don't know if I have ever mentioned that seeing Little Owls perching on trees in a large city park is very much like cognitive dissonance to me. All my life I have seen them perching on human-made stone heaps or on top of country houses' rooftops. I don't think I've ever seen one in a tree that wasn't an olive tree. This is the typical place where you'd see Little Owls here:

    http://iberian-nature.blogspot.com.es/2015/07/el-mochuelo-los-amaneceres-y-atardeceres.html

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    1. It is paradoxical that when Little Owls come into a city centre they go for the most rural places they can find. It would be plasing to have some suitable nest boxes for the owls, but I fear the parakeets would grab them.

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  2. I will go around tonight and post back if I spot the mother and duckling. Hope they are okay. You kind of get used to seeing them every day on the same spot and when they skip a day you are thinking something horrible happened but then you see them the following day again...fingers crossed.

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    1. Thanks. Please post a comment if you find them.

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    2. Mother and baby fine tonight and eating well as no herring gulls in sight

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  3. I saw the Long Water swan family by the landing stage in the Serpentine this afternoon. Perhaps they're expanding their territory!

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    1. They've tried this before. Everywhere up to the island. Next year the whole lake.

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