Tuesday 4 December 2018

Another two Black Swans have appeared on the Long Water, joining the familiar female swan. They have probably come from St James's Park, and they are probably two of the four who, as teenagers, arrived in the park in 2017 and then moved to St James's.


The morning sunshine brought out the Little Owl in the horse chestnut tree near the Queen's Temple.


A young Herring Gull rolled a conker around on the edge of the Serpentine. It was also pecking holes in it, but probably not eating the inside. The seeds contain aescin and aesculin, both of which are poisonous and are only tolerated by a few species  of bird, such as Jays, and mammals such as horses, pigs and grey squirrels.


Gulls usually do the worm dance in the Diana fountain enclosure, where the well maintained turf is rich in worms. But this Herring Gull was dancing on the lawn next to the Dell, and was bringing up a fair quantity.


The worm dance is routinely performed by Herring Gulls and Common Gulls, but I hadn't seen a Black-Headed Gull doing it until a couple of days ago, in the Diana enclosure. It stopped before I could get a video, but I got another chance today.


A row of Black-Headed Gulls preened on the rail of the jetty at the Lido.


A young Cormorant, still with the off-white front of its juvenile plumage, spread its wings on a post at Peter Pan.


One of the young Grey Herons perched on a boathouse roof, enjoying the last of the sunshine before the sky clouded over.


A Robin enlivened the grey afternoon with a song from a treetop in the Rose Garden.


Another perched in a rose bush.


A Blue Tit delicately pecked pieces out of a sunflower seed that it had got from a feeder.


A Coal Tit had also got a seed.


One of the pair of Mistle Thrushes in the Rose Garden ate berries in a cabbage palm tree in the Rose Garden. This plant, Cordyline australis, is native to New Zealand, and the thrushes have taken a chance and found that the berries are edible. In its native land the seeds are dispersed by birds and germinate easily, so we may be seeing little cabbage palms appearing in unexpected places.


In the rowan tree on Buck Hill, a Blackbird reached for an otherwise inaccesible bunch of fruit by reaching over from another twig.


The usual Jay was here, waiting to be given a peanut.

8 comments:

  1. Do you think that the resident Black Swan will allow the others to stay?

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    1. Yes. They know each other already and were in a comfortable group. Admittedly, two's company and three's a crowd.

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  2. Two more Black Swans to keep our own company. Excellent! They do seem to get along well, don't they?

    The Black-Headed Gull looks hesitant. It still doesn't have its dance moves down pat, it seems. I wonder where it got the knowledge from.

    Love to hear the Robin's bright cheery song!

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    1. It's hard to tell how the dancing spreads. Did they learn it by watching Herring Gulls? Did the Common Gulls learn it the same way? My answer to both is Probably.

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  3. Cordyline seedlings are a regular pavement weed these days. Not common, but not that rare either. I've noticed Starlings are partial to the fruits too.

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    1. Interesting prospect of palm trees sprouting from pavements. Wood Pigeons have also been seen eating berries in the three trees in the Rose Garden. And there was a Wren nest in one of them last year.

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  4. Great capture of the black-heading gull worm-dancing Ralph, I've never seen them do it!

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    1. I was surprised by that. I'd thought maybe they were too small to make enough vibration in the ground. So far the only common local species I haven't seen dancing is Lesser Black-Backs, but they do tap their bills on the ground which may have the same effect.

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