Wednesday 6 December 2017

A Cormorant fished unsuccessfully in one of the pools in the Italian Garden, so it changed to another pool.


One dive, and it emerged draped with algae but clutching a perch.


Within five minutes it had caught two more.

On the posts below the bridge, a Cormorant attended to its wings while digesting a meal.


A pair of Great Crested Grebes defended their territory at the east end of the Serpentine. The rival grebe was at least 30 yards away, and retreated after this pair had displayed for a couple of minutes.


The pair of Lesser Black-Backed Gulls at the Lido restaurant made it clear that this was their territory. You may have seen the gulls in Finding Nemo shouting 'Mine!' This upward jerk of the head and short cry are how a Lesser Black-Back actually says 'Mine!'


A young Herring Gull was playing with a twig with a couple of seeds on it.


I went to find the Black Redstart at the Winter Wasteland, and did see it. It was at gate 8, which is the small gate just to the right of the large entrance gate near the Dell restaurant, and constantly flew in and out of the enclosure. it was flitting around high in a tree still with some leaves on it, and impossible to photograph. So you are only getting pictures of common birds today.

A small flock of Goldfinches twittered in a tree between the Rose Garden and Rotten Row. They can often be found here.


Inside the Rose Garden, a Dunnock in a yew hedge forgot I was there and came out on the path.


A Robin also came out, but in this case in the hope of being given some pine nuts.


A flock of Long-Tailed Tits passed along the bottom of Buck Hill near the Henry Moore sculpture.


Higher up the hill, the female Little Owl looked out of her lime tree.


And between them there was a stand of large mushrooms, with caps about 4 inches across.


I thought they might be a Lactarius species, and stuck a thumbnail into one to see if it exuded milky juice. It didn't. I don't know what they are.

Update: But Mario does, of course. They are Field Blewits or Blue-Legs, Lepista saeva.

11 comments:

  1. Nice pictures from today, and congrats on finding the Black Redstart!

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    1. It was fairly easy. There were already half a dozen people at the gate with binoculars and cameras. No one got a picture, though.

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  2. Dear me, they truly are saying 'mine'!

    The algae-bedecked Cormorant looks like the Loch Ness Monster in that picture.

    Have you ever considered writing an article yourself about gull toy use? No one could do it better. I am sure that many journals would be very happy to print it.

    BTW, the Spanish press is announcing very facetiously the discovery of the forefather of mute swans. They carry a remarkable swan-like illustration of the newly discovered dinousaur Halszkaraptor escuilliei which, they say, walked like a duck, swam like a penguin and hunted like a crocodile. Yep, plain to see who swans take after.

    http://www.abc.es/ciencia/abci-ustedes-halszka-tatarabuelo-cisnes-201712061902_noticia.html

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    1. It's not much like a swan, is it?

      There is an early bird, Hesperornis, that had very much the shape of a grebe, though it was large and flightless. Parallel evolution has produced the same separately fringed toes and flattened leg bones, and it's clear that it had the same otherwise unique swimming stroke and would therefore have been a very swift predator of fish. But it also had teeth and is only very distantly related to modern birds.

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    2. Oh wow, if you dress it up with feathers, that's a Grebe and no mistake!

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  3. The mushrooms are Field Blewits, Lepista saeva. Also called Blue-legs, they are rated as good edible mushrooms as long as they are well cooked. They are sold in supermarkets in parts of Europe, sometimes together with their relatives, the Wood Blewits (Lepista nuda).
    Mario

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    1. Thank you. There are a lot of them. Go from Henry Moore towards the bridge, and just before the path forks to go over and under the bridge, they're on your left.

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    2. My freezer is already full! Field Blewits are used to get frozen in nature, so freezing doesn't spoil them.
      Mario

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  4. You could be forgiven for not identifying those blewits pronto - they change hue a bit when damp and look much duller. Mycologists, by the by, also have trouble with L. saeva - this species has been called an Agaricus, a Tricholoma and a Rhodopaxillus before ending up as a Lepista; plus, in the USA it is thought to be a Clitocybe. Birds is easier! (When cooking blewits, NB they have a particular affinity with bacon-fat.)

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    1. Thanks for the information. The stems were definitely not blue -- a dull brown with a few faint violet streaks.

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  5. Yep; the stems (properly 'stipes') aren't always purple with L. saeva. Like the (arguably-)related - and equally tasty - Lepista nuda (aka Cltocybe nuda) the stems can be pale or mid-brown as well as mauve. And dampness seems to alter their hue, too.

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