Thursday 16 November 2017

It was a day to enjoy the autumn colours.


A Great Tit looked splendid against a background of yellow leaves.


A Cormorant ...


... and a young Great Crested Grebe ...


... were set off by tree reflections in the Long Water.

The male Little Owl at the leaf yard was enjoying the sunshine ...


... and the female at the Henry Moore sculpture was ignoring it in her usual way.


A Green Woodpecker climbed up a branch near the Queen's Temple.


On the other side of the Long Water, a Robin scolded another Robin that had encroached on its territory.


A Blackbird in the Dell found a patch of dead leaves that had escaped the gardeners' leaf blowers.


A Jay looked reproachfully at me because I had run out of peanuts.


A pair of Jackdaws on a chestnut branch had eyes only for each other.


A Herring Gull stared from a rowing boat.


A Carrion Crow had found a piece of boiled potato somewhere.


The paper cases of cupcakes at the Lido restaurant are always popular.


But when it's chocolate cake it causes a feeding frenzy.


But I couldn't find the Black Swans, although I went round the lakes twice and checked the Round Pond.

Update: Ian Young reports extra Black Swans in St James's Park.

11 comments:

  1. Lovely pictures today!

    The Robin looks so cute when he's angry (I guess it's a he?).

    There is something oddly uncomfortable in the Herring Gull's direct gaze. What might it be looking at? Anything you carried, a colour worn...?

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    1. Female Robins are just as fierce as males, and both sexes sing. In winter they have individual territories. At this time you can't tell a female from a male by behaviour.

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    2. I was in a garden centre near Ware/ Herts, where several robins live apparently in relative peace inside the buildings. The man I spoke to said they get a bit feistier 'in mating season', but seem to have come to an arrangement most of the time. Nice to be sung at whilst looking at gardening tools, anyway.

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    3. Keeps down the bugs on the house plants too.

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    4. and they've put feeders up for them

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  2. BTW, found this sign early today. Is it a real sign, or is it photoshopped? I find it hard to believe that geese should saunter onto the Tube.

    https://i.redditmedia.com/ZNXI23wLNYEiqjrCsdgp6eTzk8osBcj7fTmIOCC0ZZs.jpg?w=444&s=500d51ca1fcb7ad3f3120eec706cfc6e

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    1. I think it's real. The outlying stations on the Underground are on the surface, and often quite rural. Stationmasters often put up amusing signs, and the idea of a Level 5 warning is funny. But it's seriously intended to keep you away from the goose, for the bird's good as much as your own.

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  3. There were 4-5 extra Black Swans at St James’s Park today, in addition to the normal five. Perhaps they’re the Hyde Park swans on an away day?

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    Replies
    1. That sounds very likely. Thank you. I do hope they come back.

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  4. Heard some Hawfinch and Brambling been seen migging over park Ralph

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    Replies
    1. Nick Senior goes there at dawn. He is made of stronger stuff than me.

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