Saturday 17 October 2015

There were some rabbits around the Henry Moore sculpture, and the local family of Magpies were amusing themselves by chasing them.


On the Serpentine, a Black-Headed Gull was playing with a red flower.


For most birds, red is an exciting colour. It reminds Coots of their chicks, but on Robins it is an aggressive territorial display.

An old friend returns: this is the Black-Headed Gull with ring number EY09813, which every winter comes back to the same posts at the Vista. It recognised me at once and flew over to catch some bits of digestive biscuit in midair, a favourite game.


A Herring Gull was doing its best to look angelic.


The Black Swan had moved back to the Round Pond, and was behaving in its usual aggressive way.


The Mute Swan it is pecking has what looks like a bloodstain on its head. I don't know whether this is the result of a previous run-in with this furious Australian visitor.

The eldest of this year's Mute Swans on the Serpentine is already getting adult white feathers.


The other two remain all grey.

The Great Crested Grebe family from the fallen poplar had moved up the Serpentine a bit. The young ones were enjoying a jacuzzi over the air bubbler that is supposed to oxygenate the water.


One of the Goldcrests in the yew tree between Peter Pan and the Italian Garden came into sight for a few seconds.


There were also a couple of Blackbirds eating the berries, but they wouldn't pose for a picture. Usually there are Song Thrushes or Mistle Thrushes in the yews when they have berries. But these seem very thin on the ground at the moment, and I haven't seen a Song Thrush for several weeks.

The female Little Owl was in her favourite place, having a good scratch.


Update: Virginia Grey reports that the Egyptian Goose nest in the oak tree north of the Round Pond is hatching out, and sent me the first picture of the new brood. She wonders how this little creature got up high enough to look out of the nest.

2 comments:

  1. Oh, those winsome magpies and their antics. Wonderful picture, as always.

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    1. They can't resist tormenting everything in sight. Fluffy tails in particular just have to be tweaked.

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