Monday 14 November 2016

On a rainy day, the young Grey Heron at the Dell restaurant found few people sitting outside and had to get its own food. It caught a perch by one of the floating reed rafts.


The young Lesser Black-Backed Gull that is probably the offspring of the pigeon killer and his mate had been allowed to finish the last scraps of meat on a pigeon.


Its father had found a bit of pizza and was throwing it around before eating it.


The young Moorhen with an injured leg on the south side of the Serpentine is still lame and always will be, but it is running around quite fast. People have been pampering it, so if you stop to photograph it, it comes over to be fed.


Two pairs of Egyptians were alternately bathing and quarrelling. Eventually one pair chased the other off.


For several days there has just one pair of Gadwalls on the Serpentine.


It must be difficult for a Shoveller to preen with that enormous bill, but they seem to manage.


There were Pied Wagtails running around on the grass all the way up the west side of the enormous enclosure for the funfair. Females have grey backs, males have black backs.


When the fair opens, the Starlings will throng there to steal chips from the visitors. But meanwhile they were flocking to the rowan trees on Buck Hill.


There were also several Blackbirds in the trees.


Yellow autumn leaves made a Blue Tit look almost inconspicuous.


A Jay was also blending in well with the dead leaves on the ground.


There was not much else on show, so I went to see one of the rarest birds in London, the domestic chicken. This stately hen in the allotment is called Jessica.


Paul saw one of the Little Owls in the oak tree sheltering in the hole in the early morning. But it had gone in by the time I passed by. However, the park's Little Owls have now come to the attention of the UK Little Owl Project. You can see their web page here.

6 comments:

  1. Where is the allotment , with hens in it?

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    1. It's just up the hill from the Magazine, now the Serpentine Sackler Gallery. Access is from the park on the Kensington Gardens side, not from the road.

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  2. Good Little Owls article Ralph, but one passage near the end has been repeated twice.

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    1. Thanks. I did notice and sent an email, and it has now been corrected.

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    2. I just love hens! We used to have a chicken coop when I was little. They can be nasty, sure, but they are so adorable at times.

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    3. The ones in the allotment are all of different breeds, and all have names, shown by photographs on the wall.

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