Friday 27 April 2018

A Grey Wagtail ran up the shore of the Lido restaurant terrace. It was chased by a Feral Pigeon. When it came up against a Coot, it was time to fly away.


A Pied Wagtail and two Starlings looked for insects in the debris washed up by the wind on the shore near the Dell restaurant.


The wagtail flew up to the roof and preened.


Another was running around on the Vista, where the grass has just been mown to a length that makes it possible for a small bird to run about.


A Chaffinch sang from a treetop beside the Serpentine.


A small group of Long-Tailed Tits bounced around in a tree near the Queen's Temple.


Mark sent this picture of a Robin in St James's Park carrying a grub to give to its nestlings.


Near the bridge, heaving branches revealed a Magpie struggling to break off a twig for its nest.


The usual Jay flew across the lake to beg for a peanut. It had already had one when I was on the other side.


Carrion Crows prefer their peanuts dunked in puddles.


A patch of young dandelion leaves on the Vista attracted more and more Rose-Ringed Parakeets. Most of them were male. Probably there are many females nesting now.


The Coots nesting in the unfortunate place at the Serpentine outflow have now built their nest up to quite a large size. It looks like a perfect spot to them, and they have forgotten that last year all their chicks were swept away over the weir.


A Greylag Goose has been sitting on one of the floatings baskets of water plants surrounding the island. It seems to be nesting.


There's no progress so far at the Great Crested Grebes' nest farther along the shore.


It will be some time before anything happens in the Grey Herons' nest here.


Another heron found the metal fences in the Italian Gardens pools a convenient place to perch and look for fish.

7 comments:

  1. The magpies outside my house have abandoned their nest-making- after all that work! Think they may have been bullied away by some crows?
    I'm sorry they're gone.

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  2. Pigeon trying to shadow the wagtail to see what he was feeding on? What did pigeon do next? Jim

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    1. I was looking through the viewfinder, of course, but the last I saw was the pigeon stopped dead because it didn't want to get too close to the Coot.

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    2. Well it's good to see feral pigeons trying to get wild food at least some of the time, they must get some cravings for this. If I see them foraging in grass I leave them alone. Jim

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  3. Great study today of Wagtail behaviour. They are always doing something of interest.

    I'm worried about the swallow nest near my home. I haven't seen any of the adult birds for two days.

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    Replies
    1. Oh dear. Hope they haven't been got by raptors. When the Hobbies nested in the park in 2016 they often caught Swifts.

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