Friday 12 October 2018

It was a very windy day. Carrion Crows were playing in the updraught at the top of the Royal Lancaster Hotel.


Another amused itself by swinging on the weather vane of the Lido restaurant.


Starlings on the tables below saw a bit of pizza on the ground and went for it.


The leaves are now falling in earnest, giving these Starlings a place to forage for insects ...


... and a Moorhen a place where it can find small aquatic creatures.


Blue Tits don't just eat insects. This one was picking at a rowan berry in the trees on Buck Hill.


A Great Tit in the holly near the bridge was more interested in being given a pine nut.


Long-Tailed Tits live almost entirely on insects, turning to seeds only when the supply is short in winter.


Pied Wagtails eat nothing but insects.


A Grey Wagtail hunted around the rocks in the Dell.


A young Grey Heron carefully stepped across the small waterfall.


A Robin warned another off its territory.


A visiting Bar-Headed Goose grazed its way up the grassy bank at the back of the Lido.


The young Mute Swan is gone from the fountain in the Italian Garden, though I don't know whether it left of its own accord or was moved by the Wildlife Officer. The only large waterfowl left here are the familiar pair of Egyptian Geese which have been here for 15 years.

5 comments:

  1. I like the Egyptian composition. Eat your heart out Peter Greenaway. Do you have any idea what happened to the 44 tufted ducklings? I miss their pneumatic bobbing.

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    1. A good proportion of the Tufted ducklings survived. But they grow up faster than Mallards, and are now indistinguishable from adult females. At the last count in September there were 134 Tufteds, against 99 in the same month last year.

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    2. Thanks. That's good to hear.

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  2. How much prettier can a picture of a Long Tailed Tit get? I'd say this picture can't be beaten in terms of colour and composition. And sheer cuteness of the model.

    I am a bit sad that the young Heron does not appreciate as much as it should how beautiful the waterfall scenery is. It seems more concerned with not falling flat on its face.

    Crows are more adept to make wind their plaything than many of the ladies who attended today's royal wedding. Too many Marilyn moments for anyone's comfort.

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    1. It's very endearing to see how much crows enjoy flying. One windy sunny day I must go down to a place on the Thames where there is often a crowd of them looning about in the air, and try to get some video.

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