Tuesday 29 November 2016

A Carrion Crow was bathing in the dolphin fountain in the Rose Garden.


It evidently felt that there wasn't enough water in this fountain, as it took off, flapped soggily to the other, larger fountain and carried on splashing.

There was also a Wren, which came out on a bush ...


... and a Coal Tit waiting for its turn at the feeder ...


... and a flight of Long-Tailed Tits rushing around in the trees.


There is brisk competition for the last fruit on the rowan tree on Buck Hill, with half a dozen Blackbirds ...


... and constant arrivals of Mistle Thrushes.


The Pied Wagtails on the Parade Ground, have found a new place to hunt insects, the fake shingles on the fake chalets in the funfair.


(They are fake shingles because real shingles must be split, not sawn, to make them weatherproof.)

A Jay at the Leaf Yard was getting impatient at being photographed instead of fed.


So was a Blue Tit. It's hard to take pictures and keep the birds happy at the same time, and really you need someone else to feed them when you are photographing.


The female Little Owl near the Albert Memorial was looking out of the hole in the oak tree, but fled inside as I approached. I went back half an hour later and found the male owl, a much calmer bird who just stared back at me.


The third pigeon-killing Lesser Black-Backed Gull is almost always in the same place on the north shore of the Serpentine, halfway between Bluebird Boats and the Dell restaurant. It isn't very good at catching pigeons yet, and I've only seen it with two undisputed kills. But it took the first gull several years to get it technique refined.


A Great Crested Grebe was looking for fish under the edge of one of the reed rafts at the east end of the lake.


This area is patrolled by a very aggressive male Mute Swan, who was harassing some other swans. This one's nerve snapped and it fled up the lake, half running, half flying.

3 comments:

  1. Seeing the last picture made me missed the Black Swan sorely again... I hope he is doing all right.

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    Replies
    1. The swan that was being aggressive in that picture also gave the Black Swan a very hard time.

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    2. Size and brute strength will trump courage every time, unfortunately.

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