Monday 9 March 2015

A Dunnock was singing on a railing by the Sunken Garden.


There is more news about the Little Spotted Woodpecker. Gardeners at the plant nursery -- the big greenhouses surrounded by shrubbery, with Rima on the south side -- have heard it singing and drumming, and showed me some holes in a branch of a plane tree.


To find the tree, start facing the Rima relief and walk to your right and just around the corner of the enclosure. The plane tree is right nest to the path. This branch comes out facing the shrubbery between the main forks of the tree, and it has been sawn off short. It is about 6 inches in diameter, so you can see that the holes are quite small. The branch was rotten and about to fall off, but the gardeners left the bit with the holes in it to avoid making the woodpecker homeless.

There was a fair-sized flock of Redwings chattering in the trees at the bottom of the Parade Ground near the bandstand. Only two of them were on the ground when I passed, an inconvenient 70 yards from the fence. But it is good to know that they are there.


The Cetti's Warbler is still in the same place on the west side of the Long Water, and still singing sporadically.

The Scaup is still on the Serpentine near the reed bed in front of the Diana fountain, but was asleep and too far off for a picture worth looking at. It's odd how much time he spends dozing. When he was on the Round Pond he was diving constantly. Maybe food is easier to find on the Serpentine.

The Great Crested Grebes' nest under the willow tree near the bridge is as complete as it is ever going to be. It can't be said that it is a miracle of construction. Here the female grebe adjusts a soggy leaf.


A young Herring Gull had a new toy, a tatty orange ball. It could just manage to pick this up by sticking its beak into the soft foam rubber.


Blondie the Egyptian Goose is back on the Serpentine with her new mate, whom she picked up beside the Round Pond. Here she is having a Marilyn Monroe moment in the gusty wind.


The male Little Owl didn't like today's weather and stayed in his hole, but he looked out occasionally.


The male Tawny Owl is made of sterner stuff, and stayed on top of his tree all day.

2 comments:

  1. If Egyptian Geese' wing feathers are standing up, shouldn't we call that goose bumps? ;-0 Jim n.L.

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