Tuesday 3 April 2018

Two Carrion Crows appear when I walk along the bicycle track that passes the Dell, usually expecting me to give them peanuts. But today one of these sharp-eyed birds spotted a worm in the middle of the tarmac.


The other had found a piece of cake, probably on a deserted table at the Dell restaurant. Evidently it had eaten its fill, because it buried the rest as a future meal. It looked in the sand of Rotten Row. This bit was too wet.


Finding a better spot, it dug a hole.


Here it has nearly covered the cake with sand. When it had finished, it flew off.


I tried to photograph the Jackdaws at their nest hole in the Little Owls' oak tree near the Albert Memorial, but when they saw me they flew down and trotted up to be given peanuts.


Two Jays followed me along the edge of the Long Water for the same reason.


The Little Owl near the Henry Moore sculpture was in her usual place in the lime tree.


You will notice that this picture isn't as sharp as I can usually manage. My excellent Pentax 150-450mm zoom lens needs cleaning, and I only have the Sigma 150-500mm lens I used until two years ago. Although it's a longer lens, it's not wonderful at full zoom. I hope to have the Pentax lens back within a fortnight.

Several Coal Tits were singing in the Rose Garden.


You can hear one at the beginning of this clip of a Blackbird singing in a tree. It's the sound of an English spring -- though a pretty wet and chilly one at the moment.


A pair of Starlings were bathing in the Serpentine. The female has a pinkish base to her bill. On the male it's faintly blue.


A little flock of Pied Wagtails landed to the grass on the north side of the lake and hunted for insects.


This is where the large grandstand for the Olympic Games was in 2012. Its weight caused the ground to subside and, despite attempts to build up the ground before returfing it, there are still dips that flood in wet weather. This is good news for Mallards.


The white Mallard was dabbling with his mate. You can tell that he is male by the curly feather on top of his tail. His feathers, cream-coloured when they emerged last year, have faded to pure white, more brilliant than those of a Mute Swan.


The Great Crested Grebes are still hanging on to the stolen Coot nest at the island.


The Moorhens near the bridge have abandoned their attempt to build a nest on a submerged branch of the willow, and have moved to the next tree, an oak. One picked up a twig.


The nest seems to be up in the tree somewhere. The Moorhen had difficulty carrying twigs up the branch, which kept getting caught so that it dropped them.


The Moorhen nesting in the stream in the Dell looked comfortable in a moss-lined cleft in the rock.

2 comments:

  1. I think Ralph is the pied piper of birds! As soon as he is sighted, they follow him.

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    Replies
    1. It's the food. Bribery will get you everywhere.

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