Monday 18 March 2019

The male Little Owl dropped in to visit his mate in the lime tree near the Henry Moore sculpture.


Feeding times come increasingly often on the Grey Herons' nest as the young birds approach full size. There was wild excitement as a parent arrived.


A heron from the nest on the next tree, which hasn't produced anything so far, looked on enviously.


A tall cedar near the bridge is a popular perch for herons. The horizontal branches are comfortable to perch on, and their wide spacing avoids fights.


The pigeon-killing Lesser Black-Backed Gull shared a meal with his mate. The two are now constantly together on their usual territory near the Dell restaurant, and probably going to nest on the roof when renovation work finishes in a few days.


The Great Crested Grebes' nest in the reed bed on the east side of the Long Water is always occupied, and there must be eggs in it.


A Little Grebe appeared under the parapet of the Italian Garden.


The Coots at the east end of the Serpentine have made good progress in repairing their storm-damaged nest.


A pair of Mallards upended at the Lido.


Sergey Anpilov saw this bird on Buck Hill, and although he didn't have a camera his wife managed to get a picture with binoculars and a smartphone.


They were wondering whether it was a female Stonechat or a female Whinchat. The pale eyebrows suggest a Whinchat, but the white band round the front of its neck points conclusively to a Stonechat, and I think the eyebrows are a trick of the light. This is probably the bird that was seen in the Meadow recently.

A Mistle Thrush sang in a tree beside the Serpentine. The repetitive song sounds like a Blackbird with no imagination.


A Starling sang on the back of a chair on the terrace of the Lido restaurant.


The Chiffchaff on the north side of the Serpentine near the bridge was also singing, darting around in a blossoming tree. Unfortunately it was impossible to get video of this, as the bird was hidden by the flowers. So here is a still picture taken when it flew to another tree.


A Great Tit perched amid flower buds at the opposite corner of the bridge.


A Long-Tailed Tit paused on a twig with new leaves.


The Pied Wagtails were dashing around in their usual place beside the Serpentine.

5 comments:

  1. Interesting as always, where exactly is the great Crested Grebe's nest? I would love to photograph it.

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    1. It's in the reed bed on the east side of the Long Water halfway between Peter Pan and the Italian Garden, and can only be photographed from the west side of the lake. That picture is an extremely distant shot taken with a pin-sharp 450mm lens, with a 1000x750 pixel image cropped out of the middle of the picture. You'd need a longer lens to do any better.

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    2. Thank you very much, I have a 150-600 and will try next week.

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  2. How sweet and lovely, the Little Owls's video. It gladdens the heart to see them so cozy and comfortable together.

    The Great Tit looks so smart in the flower buds, but the Long-Tailed Tit gets full marks for adorableness.

    I love the humble cheery song of the Chiffchaff. Chiff-chaff, chiff-chaff, chiff-chaff. Love it.

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    1. I would love to get a video of that Chiffchaff singing. They are difficult birds because they move around will singing.

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