Thursday 13 August 2015

A rainy day makes no difference to a Pochard.


And Blackbirds are delighted, because the rain brings up worms.


A Grey Heron was looking a bit soggy on the edge of the Serpentine.


Little Owls dislike windy days but they don't seem to mind rain. This adult was in the maple tree near the leaf yard, clearly wet but not seeking shelter. I think it was the female, because she glanced at me with one eye and immediately flew into a more secluded part of the tree.


One of the owlets was in the nest tree, sheltering under the thick canopy of chestnut leaves.


The two Mute Swan cygnets on the Serpentine are growing up into graceful teenagers.


The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull and his mate were in their usual place on the roof of the Dell restaurant.


But I haven't seen the young one that was with them recently. I am almost sure that it was theirs, because it was standing with them calling for food. Two days ago I saw a Lesser Black-Back flying over Buck Hill with a young gull following it and calling, but there are two young Lesser Black-Backs on the lake and it was very likely the other one.

The Great Crested Grebe family halfway up the Long Water were again on the near side, in the bushes just to the south of Peter Pan, from which some of them came out from time to time.


The pair of Coots who built the nest in the middle of the Long Water, and were driven off it by gulls and a heron, are trying again. Somehow they have found another object to which a nest can be attached, a few yards from the original place, and were building it up. There must be a fallen tree in the lake here whose branches stick up almost to the surface.

2 comments:

  1. I saw the pigeon-eating Herring Gull in St James Park the other day, polishing off the remains of his latest victim. It was at the Horseguards end of the park, shocking the tourists.
    This afternoon I'm visiting Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens, and am looking forward to the seeing the Grebe chicks and (if I'm lucky) a Little Owl or two

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    1. Hope you had a good time in the park. I think the pigeon-eating gull in St James's Park is a different one from ours, though I am not sure as I have never seen it myself. It has been reported several times, and never fails to appal the tourists.

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