Friday 4 January 2019

A Pied Wagtail at the Lido restaurant approached and ran around my feet. If you stay still they sometimes forget you're there.


A Carrion Crow was busy drinking what was probably a spill from a heavily sweetened cappuccino.


On the shore, a Black-Headed Gull had found a hoverfly larva.


On Buck Hill a Blue Tit ate a pine nut on an alder twig. This is a subject I've videoed before, but it's always a pleasure to see these beautiful little birds picking so daintily at their food.


Usually only one of the Coal Tits at the bridge will come to my hand to be fed, but it was a cold day and they were hungry so, after some hesitation, the other one flew down too.


Several Jays had no hesitation at all, and swooped to grab peanuts from my fingers.


Tom was photographing this and got some dramatic shots that I will publish later.

A Starling at the leaf yard shone in the low sunlight.


The female Little Owl at the Queen's Temple basked at the front of her hole.


The Grey Heron on the lower nest was still stting on her eggs, barely visible over the top of the nest. This heron is in the upper nest, where there is still no sign of laying.


This is the male of the pair of Egyptian Geese at the Henry Moore sculpture. The female is now on her nest, and he has nothing to do until the eggs hatch. Herons, on the other hand, take turns to sit on the nest.


So do Great Crested Grebes, but luckily none of them has been silly enough to start breeding now, and they can spend their days lounging around until later in the year.


The white Mallard has taken to hanging about under the collapsed willow tree next to the bridge.


A Mute Swan took off from the Serpentine and worked to gain height to pass over the bridge. They won't fly under it.


The huge blue-eyed Greylag was on the Serpentine. No one knows whether it's a domestic goose or a hybrid of a domestic goose and a wild Greylag.


Some aspiring baristas were trying to perform bar tricks. They were only moderately successful, and will have to practise a lot more.


After the recent picture of a mushroom that wasn't a Yellow Fieldcap, this one is. They come up early in the day and only last a few hours. The yellow colour fades to a brown spot at the centre of the cap, and the mushroom dries out and withers. But it has done its job of distibuting spores.

2 comments:

  1. How fortunate, to be able to watch at one'e leisure a Pied Wagtail! Here they are very rare sights that necessitate a special trip solely for the purpose of seeing them.

    Two things are always required for one's wellbeing: pictures of Owls, and videos of Blue Tits.

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    1. There was a Pied Wagtail in the street a few yards from my front door yesterday. Urban wagtails are remarkably nonchalant. There was one in Queensway a few years ago that would run around in the moving traffic, confident that its speed would get it clear in time. It would also come and take little bits of cheese thrown on the pavement.

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