The other small boathouse also has a Coots' nest in it, though this can't be seen from the shore side. This is the birthplace of the three half-grown chicks that are hanging around the boathouses at the moment.
The Reed Warbler family near the Diana fountain were climbing busily around in the reeds, and one of the young ones came out at the front for a few seconds.
The small patch of reeds on the Long Water, just the other side of the bridge, also has a Reed Warbler family in it. The parents fly out of the reeds into a nearby oak tree to gather insects for the young. It's a difficult place to get a photograph because the reeds were cut down last year (as they should be periodically, to encourage new growth) and there are no tall dry stems for the birds to climb up.
One of the Hobbies could be seen at the top of a plane tree near the Speke obelisk.
A large flock of Long-Tailed Tits was working its way along the west side of the Long Water.
This Grey Heron had been sunbathing, and settled on a post near Peter Pan and shook itself vigorously. I think the idea is that the sunlight causes pests to come to the surface of their feathers, where they can be shaken off.
A female Black-Tailed Skimmer dragonfly was resting on the stonework of the Italian Garden.
This cricket was walking across the path on the east side of the Long Water, near Rudolf Steiner's bench. I looked it up when I got home and found that it was a female Roesel's Bush-Cricket, Metrioptera roeselii.
I say 'was', because unfortunately a Magpie saw that I was looking at something, came over to see what it was, and ate it.
I reckon you lurk by the herons to catch them in increasingly undignified poses! Today's photo shows one looking distinctly ruffled. Odd really, as whenever I watch herons, they remain utterly unmoving for hours!
ReplyDeletePhotographing birds is mainly a matter of being quick, so that when the moment comes you catch it.
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