A man eating his lunchtime sandwich on a bench had discarded the salad, and the speckled hybrid goose was gladly picking it up.
The Teal had been on a little expedition down the Long Water, but came back to his usual place by the Italian Garden.
A Pochard drake at Peter Pan was much less showy, but still elegant with his rusty head and red eyes.
A Cormorant fishing near the bridge surfaced with a small fish and swallowed it before the attendant Black-Headed Gull could stir a wing to grab it.
Great Crested Grebes often fish under the platform of Bluebird Boats, and presumably they are successful. But you seldom see one with a fish here, which must be because they come up under the platform to eat it, avoiding the hungry gulls.
The five newly arrived grebes have still not settled down. One of them was flying up the Serpentine, reaching an altitude of about a foot before it gave up and splashed back into the water.
A Wren was looking for insects in one of the teak planters at the Lido restaurant.
We had a picture of a Pied Wagtail on the boathouse roof yesterday, but she was there again today and is worth another picture. She was investigating a clump of moss to see if there were any bugs in it.
As usual, plenty of Blackbirds were visiting the rowan trees on Buck Hill.
One of them was singing at the top of an adjacent tree, surprising on a chilly grey winter day. There was also a singing Mistle Thrush in a tree near the Queen's Temple.
I saw a interesting duck today near Peter Pan. It was similar to a Tufted Duck, but had a grey back and no obvious tuft. I wondered if it might be a Scaup; however I posted pictures on the Birding London Facebook page, and the general feeling was that it was a Tufted Duck x Pochard hybrid. Have you seen the bird? I'd be very interested in your views - thanks
ReplyDeleteThere have been two female Pochard x Tufted hybrids on the lake in the past couple of years, and I saw one of them recently. But from your description this sounds like a drake. Someone else reported what he thought were two Scaup on the Long Water a fortnight ago, but I was doubtful and said nothing on the blog. Will keep an eye out for this bird. I'm not on Facebook, so I can't look at the picture.
ReplyDeleteLast two photo are in the wrong order
ReplyDeleteThanks. Corrected.
DeleteLOVE that Black Swan update! Wren picture is remarkable too, if I'd seen one drawn like that I would have thought it a caricature. Also wonderIng if Pied Wagtails are tardigrades' Nemesis? Jim n.L.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I think that any creature a Pied Wagtail notices, no matter how small, gets eaten. It's remarkable how they find enough food to survive through the winter, and this must be due to their power of observation in unpromising open spaces.
DeleteDunnock sunken garden 3 pm 10th, Kestral being chased by 2 crows 2.30 pm from Playground towards round pond.10th
ReplyDeleteThanks for that. There's a pair of Duunocks, perhaps more, quite often seen at the palace end of the Sunken Garden and under the tree with feeders near the side entrance of the palace. We don't see Kestrels very often now.
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