I had expected it to be one of the swans from the nest in the reed bed near the Diana fountain, who have already survived a fox attack and lost their first clutch of eggs, but the pair were sitting there quite calmly and all seemed well.
The Reed Warbler family in this reed bed were not very active today, but there was plenty going on in the bed at the other side of the bridge, with young ones jumping around in the reeds and adults flying into trees to find insects for them. They are easier to see from the bridge, but it is a bit far for a good photograph and this one, of one of the young birds, is the best I could manage.
In the same place, there was a Mallard with two ducklings, one of them very blond. It is not quite without markings, so if it survives (the odds are against it) it will probably be pale rather than pure white like the one at the Dell restaurant.
The Magpie family near the Henry Moore sculpture were playing around. Here the three young ones are giving a Wood Pigeon a hard time. It left soon afterwards.
At least two of the Pied Wagtails have become absolutely fearless of humans -- this is not the one I photographed earlier. He was running around at the edge of the Serpentine literally under my feet, and I had to move away to take this picture.
On the other side of the Serpentine one of the Carrion Crows had seen a sandwich in a transparent rubbish bag, and expertly ripped the bag and removed the sandwich in seconds.
The Heron at the Italian Garden was after more traditional food, and was rapidly catching small fish under the marble fountain.
Both Hobbies were flying near the Physical Energy statue, but I couldn't get a picture as they whirled around between the trees. Evidently they were after dragonflies, of which there are a great many at the moment. This one is a male Emperor dragonfly seen from the Italian Garden balustrade.
Seriously something should be done about all these dogs running freely and scaring the wildlife in the park! a few weeks ago my husband and I witnessed a very rude and un caring man with his dog and young son allowing the dog to run into the serpentine clearly to scare the geese and swans which we had been feeding. a lady tried to defend the wildlife by saying his dog should not be allowed to frighten the geese and swans. he was very rude and said "its nature and who do you think you are, the police". the lady replied if I see the police I will report you. after this he deliberately encouraged his dog back into the water! we obviously stopped feeding the geese but waited until he left and was assured the geese and swans were un harmed. It infuriates me to see such irresponsible people and what a bad example to his young son who clearly thought it amusing! we are lucky to have a beautiful park with so much wildlife. what a pity not everyone enjoys it as much as we do!
ReplyDeleteFor some people, quite a lot of people in fact, dog ownership puts them in a private world where everything their pet does is lovely, and no, he doesn't mean any harm and wouldn't hurt a fly, and he's part of nature, and who are you to interfere? The fact that the lake is circled with notices clearly telling people to put their dogs on leads, and that harassing wildlife is against not just the park regulations but the law of the land, makes no difference at all. They are selectively blind and deaf through their infatuation. And if you try to invade their dream they become abusive and occasionally violent.
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