Friday 6 July 2018

The young Grey Heron from the island nest visited the Long Water and perched on a post near Peter Pan.


It didn't have an easy time. First it was harassed by a Lesser Black-Backed Gull ...


... then an adult heron flying past saw it and came back to chase it away. You can see the tips of the primaries on its left wing rippling with turbulence as it makes the tightest possible turn.


Little Grebes were calling on the west side of the Long Water, and I got a very distant shot of them from the bridge.


The Great Crested Grebe family from the Long Water relaxed at the other side of the bridge. There are lots of fish and the parents hardly have to work to catch them. The chicks are well fed and only an occasional top-up is needed to keep them quiet.


The pair on the Long Water with two very young chicks could be seen from Peter Pan, but only at a great distance.


The pair at the Serpentine island, whose two chicks are now independent, have nested again in their usual place at the east end of the island. They are hard to see through gaps in the leaves.


As a Moorhen chick swam through the mat of water weed and algae in the Italian Garden fountain, it left a trail of bubbles. I think these are bubbles of oxygen made by the algae photosynthesising, which is what causes algae to rise to the surface of the lake in warm sunny weather.


The five Tufted ducklings were east of the Lido, and I just managed to get a shot of all of them on the surface at once.


Just along the bank, the Mallard with three teenagers looked at them proudly.


One of the youngest Greylag goslings relaxed in the sunlight.


A Lesser Black-Backed Gull rummaged in a deserted Coot nest looking for insects. It found a moth.


Feral Pigeons are considered a pest, but they do have their uses. A group cleaned up a mess of chips, a hambuger bun and a doughnut dropped on the path by a passing slob.


The male Little Owl at the leaf yard was in what is now his usual place, in the chestnut tree just uphill from the nest tree.

3 comments:

  1. I love the grebe video, especially when one of the chicks flaps its little wings!

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    Replies
    1. They are irresistible in their pyjama stripes.

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  2. I can't begin to express how happy I am to see the grebe chicks so relaxed, so well fed, so happy.

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