Saturday 10 August 2013

The Little Owl, not much seen recently, appeared on his nest tree.


We know that this one is the male, because he stayed calmly staring at us for some time. The female is much shyer and would have darted into her hole as soon as she was noticed.

The London Bird Club Wiki reported a Little Owl crossing the lake near the bridge, heading for Kensington Gardens, yesterday at dusk. This would be a different owl, which has been seen near the Serpentine Gallery several times. On once occasion it was picking up bits of paper tissue, suggesting that it is one of a pair and they were building their nest.

The same observer, Matt Reed, also heard the male Tawny Owl hooting repeatedly to the west of his nest tree. A search of the area this morning didn't find him. But it is not all that useful to look in a place where an owl was yesterday.

The single young swan on the Long Water is at last beginning to develop proper wings.


This bird is about three months old. It  will take another month to become airworthy.

Speaking of airworthiness, today the six young Egyptian Geese at the Round Pond were frightened by the sight of a distant dog and ran, rather than flew, into the water.  Their wings are now fully developed, but they will need practice before they can trust them as a means of escape.

Egyptians can run very fast, much better than ordinary geese and ducks. This very young one grabbed a bit of bread that a full-grown Canada Goose was about to take.


It did this several times while I watched, sprinting fearlessly around the heavy adults.

Here is a bumblebee on a dahlia in the Flower Walk.

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