Tuesday 27 November 2018

A grey drizzly day was cheered up by the sight of one of the Little Owls near the Henry Moore sculpture, sitting well down in the hole so this picture had to be taken from a distance.


On a wet day there is almost no one in the Diana fountain enclosure, and the watercourse becomes a washing and drinking place for geese and gulls.


A young Herring Gull enjoyed a splash in the turbulent water.


A Black-Headed Gull is going into summer breeding plumage months too early.


There were four Grey Herons on the island, keeping well apart from each other.


A Great Crested Grebe was fishing on the edge of the island, but after a dive it came up with nothing but a leaf.


A Coot found a seed, but after one bite it discarded it as inedible.


A single Shoveller was feeding in the shadow of the bushes.


The Black Swan preened her splendid ruffles.


The sick Mute Swan which is being looked after at Bluebird Boats was preening too, a good sign. But if she recovers she will have to wait till next summer before she can regrow her badly broken flight feathers. No one knows how she got into this state.


A young swan ate reeds, which you would have thought were a bit tough to be palatable.


A pair of Carrion Crows had pulled some snack wrappers out of a waste bin, and were going through them for edible remains.


A Fieldfare perched in a tree at the top of Buck Hill, the first one I've seen in the park this season.


The Robins at the bottom of the hill, usually numerous and visible, haven't been seen much recently, but there was one in the brambles behind the railings.


A stand of Field Blewits had come up just across the path from the sculpture.

4 comments:

  1. So glad to see she is perking up a bit. The contrast with the Black Swan's perfect ruffles is not to the poor droopy swan's advantage though.

    Very happy to see pictures of robins again. They were missed. Have they been in hiding?

    That Black-Headed Gull is too optimistic by half.

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    1. I don't know why the Robins have been so elusive recently. It used to be common to see three or four along the path beside the Long Water. And they are vocal birds, either singing or ticking, so you know if they are there. Maybe winter hunger will bring more out to be fed.

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  2. Nice to see the Fieldfare! There was quite a big movement over parts of the London area on Sunday/Monday. I saw over 350 over my patch in the western suburbs on Sunday with smaller numbers of Redwing. About 40 Fieldfare dropped down in some dead oaks for a couple of minutes before continuing their journey + one perched in scrub. Great to hear their "chacking" calls.

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    1. There has now been quite a full set of thrushes in that rowan tree: Mistle, Song, Redwing, Fieldfare and Blackbird. But we haven't had many of any of them.

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