Tuesday 22 March 2016

A pair of Jackdaws are nesting in a hole in an oak tree 20 yards from the southeast corner of the leaf yard.


I had thought they were up to something here, but this is the first time I have seen one carrying twigs into the hole.

The Great Crested Grebes' nest at the east end of the island has been occupied continuously for several days, and it looks as if they are serious about it.


A Grey Heron was also sitting, rather than standing, in the lowest of the nests on the island.


But their on-off nesting behaviour makes it hard to tell whether this nest is a going concern. I did see two herons in it recently, an encouraging sign.

Coots have also begun to nest. But this lot on the Serpentine were just fighting.


The Black Swan came sailing over to be given a biscuit. His girlfriend wasn't with him.


He looked peaceful and innocent, but I had previously met Marie Gill, who told me that he had charged a couple of Mute Swans doing their courtship display and blasted right through between them. It is not the first time he has objected to this display.

You don't see many Herring Gulls with rings, as most gull ringers concentrate on Black-Headed Gulls, which are easy to catch and very long lived, and have interesting migration habits. I looked up this ring, X3TT, and it's only from somewhere on the Thames, and the gull is less than a year old, so it hasn't travelled far.


The Redwings were at the top of Buck Hill again. They are much easier to photograph here than on the Parade Ground.


The male Little Owl in the chestnut tree near the leaf yard came out in the warm sunshine.


So did one of the owls in the lime tree on Buck Hill.


We don't know which of these owls is which, but this one looks quite big and is probably female -- with owls, as with hawks and falcons, the female is larger.

A Wren on the grass beside the Henry Moore sculpture had caught a midge.


At the far side of the grassy square a squirrel startled a rabbit by running behind it.

14 comments:

  1. My Thames swans are really getting a taste for regular helpings of Quaker Oats (sprinkled into the water). They vocalise quite a bit when they see me (I think they are saying *Give us our Quaker Oats pronto, or there might be trouble*). Because no one feeds them bread on that stretch of the river I think they appreciate the oats. Up river at Henley, digestive biscuits seem preferred - spoilt lot!

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    1. You'd think it would just turn into very thin lumpy porridge. But there's no accounting for the tastes of swans.

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    2. I love your dry humour Ralph! Actually it scatters like upmarket swan confetti, and they sift it out of the water rather elegantly.

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  2. I've recently tried out the suggestion of offering grapes cut in half on several species of geese: some individuals loved them, some seemed offended (and that by the same sort of goose). No accounting for taste amongst them either.

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    1. I suppose they're no more variable than people. I find that the small birds ignore nyjer seed, which they are supposed to love. Evidently they don't recognise black things because they've never seen them offered before. Most of the park Blackbirds don't accept raisins, but a few love them.

      Sorry about your message appearing twice. Blogger has this recurring fault. Don't worry, I always tidy up the messages.

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    2. thanks.
      I wonder whether the birds are 'spoilt' by being used to white bread. Like people who can't taste things anymore except fast food.

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    3. I'm sure they are. Available in large quantities, easy to eat, and filling.

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    4. I wonder where the nyjer seed propaganda first began? I share your observation. Far too much effort for too little reward I suspect.

      P.S. Any idea how I change the WordPress name on my Blogger posts from "blog"?

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    5. I don't know about British birds, by the finches at my feeder in the US *love* nyjer seed. I put three different types of feed out when I first erected it and the finches who were higher on the pecking order always bullied the others away from the "finch mix" tube (nyjer and sunflower seed chips).

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    6. To use a personal name for comments on the blog, select the option 'Name/URL'. Fill in the name, leave the URL blank unless you want a link to your personal web site.

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  3. Schrödinger's cat23 March 2016 at 10:58

    You recently posted a video, in another place, entitled Bald Eagle POV flight - Chamonix, Mont Blanc fitted with a Sony Action Cam Mini. It was a marvellous film and offered a spectacular perspective of the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, the most difficult foot race in Europe.

    Last year, we visited Burg Hohenwerfen, which stands high above its eponymous town in the Salzach valley. It is a beautiful castle which we have been driving past for almost four decades and we have tried and failed to tour it before, due to the accident of travel times. Anyway, in addition to the fine defensive architecture, it also houses the Salzburg Falconry, once the property of the House of Habsburg but which is now lived in by Count Andreis of Sforza.

    Every day they put on a wonderful display and on this day they had eleven birds of prey flying around and performing swoops to pick food from the gauntlets of the keepers. One of the larger eagles decided not to play ball but went for an 'ambulatory' instead. I had a chat with his keeper afterwards, a stunning looking young lady, from the locality, with a mane of brunette hair. She spoke beautiful English and laughed when I observed that he seemed to have a mind of his own. "It is just like herding cats", she commented...

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    1. The name 'Salzburg Falconry' conjures up an agreeable vision of Goshawks and Eagle Owls circling over that smug little city and seizing the residents' chihuahuas.

      The Bald Eagle video is here. There are others in the same series, including flights over London and Paris. The spectacle is wonderful, but they should have turned down the wind roar over the microphone. An eagle would barely hear this, as the downy feathers over its earholes act like a furry microphone wind shield. Some of the films have cheesy music added, which of course has to be turned off.

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    2. If wonder if one of those 360 degree cameras can be miniaturised for avian flight? I want one regardless:

      http://www.samsung.com/global/galaxy/gear-360/

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    3. I'm sure an eagle could carry it as it is.

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