But this calm state was only achieved after he had chased away an adult Mute Swan ...
... and his girlfriend's brother, who eased his annoyance by pecking some Coots.
The female Teal was still under the parapet of the Italian Garden, scooping around in some debris which apparently contained something nutritious.
A Moorhen near the Dell restaurant was also foraging among the fallen leaves.
In the little pool at the top of the Dell waterfall, a Carrion Crow pulled something round and whitish out of the water, which it ate. I have no idea what this thing was, and have cropped right into the photograph in an effort to make it identifiable.
Another crow posed elegantly on the handrail of the Lido swimming area during a sunny interval.
A young Herring Gull was playing with a feather.
There was just one Mistle Thrush in the rowan trees on the top of Buck Hill.
They seem to spend most of their time in the trees on the other side of the road. Probably they forage on the ground here, but so far I haven't found out where. They also often come over to the patches of short grass on Buck Hill to look for worms.
It was a windy day, and the Little Owls were nowhere to be seen. They don't like perching on branches that are tossing up and down.
The other photos are all good of course too, but the black swan and girlfriend preening mutely together in the first photos is ridiculously good. What will happen i wonder?
ReplyDeleteAs to the small white goody the Carrion crow is enjoying, could it be a snail? Recently some very small snails were declared new species in Australia...worth netting if you can catch some for speciation at the Nat Hist Mus in your area. I suspect they'd be glad to help out with speciating them.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I think you're right that it's a snail. It must have been on the edge of the water rather than in it. I looked again today and couldn't see any more. Probably its small size is due to it being young, rather than some exotic tiny species.
DeleteIf you see one again though, grab it and take to the NatHisMus for ID. It wouldn't be the first time a small snail was thought to be an immature, when in fact it is an odd species at maturity....love the blog. Thank you for the ongoing reports.
DeleteAnd thank you for your kind words. If I do see one I will try to get in, and more importantly out: the stone wall has a fair drop on the inside, and my days of vaulting spiked railings with a single bound are long gone.
DeleteMight be Vallonia costata, a common small off-white species.
DeleteRALPH - I do admire your dedication in braving the very wet weather we had last week and taking the photo of the Canada Geese with the gulls in the hailstorm. With your blog you transport us into the park and show us the action as it happens and I love your comments. Marie
ReplyDeleteThanks. Actually that picture was taken from shelter, standing under the eaves of the Dell restaurant. I'm not enough of a masochist to stay out when chunks of ice are falling from a great height.
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