Wednesday 12 August 2015

One of the young Grey Wagtails flew on to the terrace of the Dell restaurant. It is just beginning to develop the black bib of an adult.


There were four Mistle Thrushes on Buck Hill, hunting insects along the edges of the patches of long grass.


More have been seen near the Serpentine Gallery; it seems to have been a good year for them. Presumably they are all resident birds, as it is too early for the winter migrant thrushes to have arrived.

A Wood Pigeon was feeding its young in a tree near the bridge.


A Gadwall turned up on the Long Water, the first that has been on the lake for some time. There is now a population of them in Battersea Park, and they seem to fly around at random.


The male Little Owl was in the maple tree near the leaf yard, preening and stretching.


One of his owlets was in the nest tree, and gave me a severe stare.


One of the Great Crested Grebes halfway up the Long Water was near Peter Pan, carrying one of his chicks, while his mate had the other two on the far side of the lake. She came over to join him, and they dumped all the chicks in the water under a bush and started catching fish for them.


The father of the two grebe chicks under the bridge was taking his turn on the nest while his mate brought them fish.


I think this is a Red-Legged Shieldbug, Penatatoma rufipes. It was running around on the parapet of the Serpentine bridge.

3 comments:

  1. One of the Mistle Thrushes had strayed as far as the Bayswater Road end of the Physical Energy avenue and seemd particularly unperturbed by the humans.

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    1. Did you notice whether it was a young one? They are much less shy than adults.

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