Saturday 26 December 2015

There are still a few fallen rowan berries under the trees on Buck Hill, and a Redwing was gathering up the last of them.


In spite of the mild weather, the small songbirds are now very hungry. Great Tits ...


... and Blue Tits ...


...pour out of the leaf yard in mobs if they see anyone they know to be carrying food for them.

Two Wood Pigeons were fighting about something in the shrubbery under the Triangle car park.


But the Black Swan and his girlfriend were having a peaceful time together, and neither of them attacked any of the other swans while I was with them.


Several people have said that she is becoming more attached to him, and certainly they seem to be spending more time together than they did a couple of weeks ago.

Blondie the Egyptian Goose was preening her pale wings in her usual place on the south shore of the Serpentine. Egyptians tend to look like a parcel coming undone when they are doing this.


The speckled hybrid goose had finished preening its wings and was having a flap to settle the feathers.


A Common Gull was also preening, more elegantly.


Their dark eyes give them a gentle appearance, in contrast to the implacable pale yellow-green stare of an adult Herring Gull. It's an illusion: they are gulls, constantly on the lookout for something to grab.

A young Herring Gull had seen just that, and dived into the lake to seize it.


Another one was playing with a golden clam, an invasive species which first appeared in the lake a couple of years ago.

5 comments:

  1. a very fine description of the unfolding Egyptian

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  2. Have you ever seen a tit hybrid before (like blue tit and great tit?)

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    Replies
    1. No, never. It might happen with more similar species than these.

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  3. It would be interesting if a hybrid like this did occur, like a Long-Tailed Tit and Great tit, or Goldcrest and Firecrest!

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