Thursday 20 October 2016

Winter migrant Song Thrushes have arrived in the park. There was one in the Little Owls' chestnut tree ...


... and another eating yew berries near Peter Pan.


I went up Buck Hill to see if there were any other arrivals in the rowan trees. A Mistle Thrush dashed into one of the trees, pursued by a Sparrowhawk. The hawk kept on the far side of the tree from me and then flew away, but I managed to get a picture of it in the air.


After two day's absence, the female Little Owl made a welcome reappearance.


Here is a better photograph of the Tawny Owl in Palace Gardens Terrace, a short way from the west side of Kensington Gardens. It was taken yesterday evening. The owl sits on this bird feeder because the spilt sunflower seeds under it attract mice -- so it's a bird feeder in a different sense. Thanks to Caroline Robertson for this picture.


Two Grey Herons chased each other round the Long Water.


After yesterday's picture of Cormorants being polite to each other, here is one of them being hostile. They were on the fallen poplar tree in the Long Water. The one that was having its leg bitten flew off in a hurry.


There was a Great Black-Backed Gull on the posts near the bridge.


Shovellers were shovelling under the blackberry bushes overhanging the Long Water near the Italian Garden.


A Moorhen was looking for crumbs on a plate at the Dell Restaurant.


A Dunnock searching for grubs under a bench in the Rose Garden paused and stared curiously at the camera.


A squirrel was drinking at the Diana fountain in the Rose Garden. When it had finished, it continued to stare down at its reflection.


I don't think it's admiring itself like Narcissus. I don't think it recognises the reflection as being of itself. It's probably wondering why there's another squirrel upside down in the water.

7 comments:

  1. Wow, the Great Black Backs are already there. Are they a problem for the rest of the birds? Hulking, menacing creatures.

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    1. We only get them occasionally, and one, or at most two, at a time. They are supposed to be predatory, but the ones I see just sit around, and the next day they are gone.

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  2. They are certainly predatory, at sea I've watched them pull inward migrating starlings down to the sea and then swallow them, still flapping.

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    1. If ours would eat a few pigeons, they wouldn't be missed.

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  3. I think a better way to say it is "Shovellers were a-shovelling", especially given that it was along a backwater. Jim

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    Replies
    1. Fie, sirrah! Deemst thou not that such a locution would be redundantly picturesque?

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    2. Quod scripsi, scripsi. Jim

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