Thursday 27 June 2013

The Coots on the nest at Peter Pan have hatched their first egg.


There are still four eggs in the nest, and a fifth has unfortunately fallen out and rolled down the side, lodging against a twig., and it is beyond the power of a Coot to get it up again. This very exposed nest is in danger from big gulls, which ate the last brood rather quickly. However, at the moment the gulls are all on the Serpentine.

The pair of Common Terns are back on the Long Water after a two-day absence, and as usual the female is screaming at the male to bring her food. Here she gets what looks like a bit of bread, much less welcome than a tasty and nutritious fish.


The pair of Nuthatches were at their usual place in the leaf yard, collecting large amounts of nuts and taking them away, presumably to feed some offspring out of sight in the bushes. Here one of them leaps up from a twig with a downward swish of its wings.


As a bird's wing flaps to throw air downwards and keep the bird aloft, it creates a vortex in the air which is shed at the wingtips. There is a diagram of this here. You can almost see the vortex emerging as the Nuthatch's wings meet under its body.

The four Moorhen chicks in the Italian Garden had all survived the night, despite having become rather adventurous and wandering out of their safe enclosure. Here one of them gets fed a piece of biscuit.


This is better fare than their usual diet of just about anything. But being an undiscriminating omnivore is the secret of the Moorhen's success.

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