Tuesday 25 October 2016

There were at least thirty people feeding the Rose-Ringed Parakeets at the leaf yard -- it's half term and they are bringing their children. Things are beginning to get a bit out of hand. The parakeets are turning quite aggressive if not promptly fed, and often biting people.

These children had found a good way of not being bitten, by putting a small pear on a stick.


Some parakeets were clustering around a large hole in a tree. Perhaps they will be using it as a winter shelter.


Another was in a yew bush eating berries.


The crowd had also attracted eight Jackdaws hoping for food. Two were looking very decorative on a maple tree going into its brilliant autumn red.


The others, unfortunately, were all over the Little Owls' chestnut trees, and had already chased one of them into the hole when I arrived. Later the female owl called from the oak tree where she was yesterday, but it was impossible to see her.

Both Nuthatches ...


... and both Coal Tits were coming down to take food from the leaf yard fence.


A few Goldfinches could be heard twittering in the treetops. There are never very many in the park for some reason, although they are commonly seen in the streets around. Tom got a good picture of one in a holly tree.


On Buck Hill a Jay was pecking open a spiky chestnut seed case.


The young Grey Heron was on a plant raft next to the Dell restaurant. Although the fence around the raft is almost two feet tall, it could reach down to the water to have a drink.


The white Mallard, his mate, and the drake that is now part of the ménage à trois cruised past.


One of the teenage Mute Swans is very aggressive even by swan standards. Here it is shooing off an adult which must have had a much higher rank in the social order.


The arbutus flowers attracted a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee. Evidently they contain useful amounts of nectar, and that is why the parakeets were eating them yesterday, preferring them to the insipid fruit.

11 comments:

  1. That picture of the two Jackdaws could easily be a Japanese painting. Wonderful!

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    1. On a red maple
      Two Jackdaws perch side by side.
      Quick, press the button.

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    2. German translations, as well as Haiku- my my.
      Thank you, by the way, for the full Dr Eisenbarth, enjoyed that. Couldn't get the music to play, either.

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    3. Now that's perfection! I don't think there is an end to Ralph's talent.

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    4. Thank you both. Surprised that the normally very capable VLC media player couldn't open a MIDI file out of the box. When I tried to find out how to enable this, I came up against a blank wall of nerdspeak and gave up. Windows Media Player will play the file, but only if you download it, not online.

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    5. I've now put copies of Dr Eisenbarth on my own site.
      For the words, as a plain text file, click here.
      For the music, as a universally playable MP3 file, click here.

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    6. In the parlance of youngsters, LoL! There can be no better entertainment than this blog and its denizens.

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  2. That's a great Haiku!
    This is why I love reading this blog.
    Always entertainment and great photos!

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  3. I love the photograph of the Jackdaws! The maple looks like a Quercus palustris (an American species).

    Justyna C.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks. I'm sure you're right. I'm hopeless at trees and there seem to be an awful lot of maple species.

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    2. It's easy to distinguish Quercus palustris (a species of oak) from Japanese maples such as, for example, Acer palmatum when you look at their leaves. You can see some images of the leaves of Q. palustris here and the leaves of A. palmatum here.

      Justyna C.

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