It seems impossible that they will succeed in this absurdly exposed place, with gulls staring at them from the neighbouring posts, but they are doing their best.
The Coots who tried to build a nest against the post near Peter Pan are also at it again. I have lost count of how many times this nest has fallen off the submerged chain and drifted away in pieces.
Curiously, Great Crested Grebes have succeeded in nesting in a similar location, on a chain on one of the posts where the Moorhens are now. In 2004 they managed to fledge five young during blazing hot summer weather. Evidently the soggy mess that is a grebe's nest drapes itself over the chain more firmly than the structure of twigs built by a Coot.
The Great Crested Grebes' nest on the Serpentine island is hard to see. The floating baskets of water plants drift slowly to and fro in front of the sitting bird's head, so you have to wait for the scenery to go by before you can get a distant and indistinct picture.
It's hard to believe that these young Egyptian Geese are from the same clutch of eggs. The small survivor remains tiny as its siblings grow larger, but it is bravely hanging on.
The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull was hunting again when I passed. Here he is running out of the water at a group of pigeons on the shore. They escaped this time.
The bold Grey Heron at the Dell restaurant was also looking hungry, waiting for incautious diners to look the other way so that he could swoop in and grab their food.
The male Little Owl had retreated further into the chestnut tree. Maybe a sunny day will bring him out for a better picture.
Most of the songbirds are now falling silent as midsummer approaches. But the male of the pair of Song Thrushes in the Flower Walk is still singing.
Brilliant heron photo!!
ReplyDeleteThanks. But it was the heron that did the work.
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