Friday 19 June 2015

A new Great Crested Grebes' nest is going up on the east side of the Long Water under a willow tree. Here one of the pair brings an ambitiously large reed stem.


The idiotically sited Coots' nest on the Serpentine near the Bluebird Boats platform is still, improbably, in business, exposed to passers-by, dogs and gulls.


The one actually on the platform is still there too, but this is a private area and the Bluebird Boats staff are careful not to disturb it. Although they moor boats right next to it, that doesn't seem to bother the Coots.

There was another Coot-Moorhen fight, but this time there was only one Moorhen and the Coot got the best of it.


Two Greylag goslings were relaxing on the edge of the Serpentine.


And a young Blue Tit was waiting to be fed beside the bridge.


They have beautifully subtle colours, a very quiet version of the bright blue and yellow of an adult.

Farther up the side of the Long Water where the Cetti's Warblers are, every time I pass I see this Robin with a beakful of insects. The pair must have a large brood to feed.


The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull was going about its bloody business. The pigeon was still alive and struggling, and the gull had to carry it into the lake and drown it.


The male Little Owl was in his favourite place, quite hard to find among the leaves.

6 comments:

  1. So there is more than one Cettis Warbler? A pair?

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    1. Yes, there is definitely a pair. Both have been seen and heard, and recently one was seen carrying nesting material.

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  2. Since this nasty gull has (had) a mate, any evidence as to their nesting? Rearing young? Jim n.L.

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    1. No. I don't think there's a colony of nesting Lesser Black-Backed Gulls in central London -- unlike the Herring Gulls in Paddington.

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    2. I didn't realise that either (sub)species would absolutely need a colony to nest. There's not much that would mess with a sitting Larus on a rooftop. Also they could pitch up alongside the Herrings. Jim

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    3. As far as I know they don't absolutely need a colony, but prefer it. Rooftop nesting seems to be a habit acquired in the last 20 years, and single pairs are more secure here than in the original nest sites on the ground, where having a colony certainly gave safety in numbers.

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