Thursday 3 March 2016

There is another family of Egyptian Geese on the Serpentine, near Bluebird Boats. They have six chicks at the moment and are looking after them well, but the gulls are implacable and have accounted for all the young Egyptians at the Lido.


The Black Swan was at the landing stage near the Diana fountain, with girlfriend number one.


Later he moved off to where someone was feeding the birds, and the girlfriend went under the bridge on to the Long Water. She soon came scooting out, as the dominant male Mute Swan has now cleared his lake of all intruders and was patrolling menacingly back and forth along the bridge.

Two pairs of Great Crested Grebes were also having a territorial dispute on the Long Water.


The pair at the east end of the Serpentine were rebuilding their nest, damaged by yesterday's wind and waves. The reed rafts, which are anchored with inadequate bags of stones, had shifted and the nest site now has a fence close to both sides.


Nearby on the shore, a Magpie was having a brisk wash.


There were six Mandarins at Peter Pan.


I heard that Herring Gulls and Carrion Crows were pulling up the newly laid turf on the Parade Ground to look for insects and worms underneath. I found quite a lot of pulled-up turf but couldn't catch them at it. But there was a Pied Wagtail also looking for insects on the edge of a flooded area.


The Parade Ground is on a gentle slope and you might not expect it to flood, but there is only a thin layer of soil on top of an impervious expanse of London clay, and the drainage can't cope with even moderate rain.

The two promised Tawny Owl boxes have been put up. A quick visit found only one of them, on a tall horse chestnut a few feet north of the owls' original nest tree.


It's a handsome structure and would be a desirable residence for any owl, but will they like it? Are they nesting already in a hollow tree somewhere? No one knows.

Update: The London Bird Club Wiki has a brief note from Charlie Farrell, put up on Wednesday but I missed it then. He saw a Tawny Owl flying from the area of the old nest tree to the leaf yard. Also, Paul tells me that the other owl box is on a nearby lime tree.

At least we know where three pairs of Little Owls are. This is one in the tall lime tree near the Henry Moore sculpture.


And here is one in the oak tree near the Albert Memorial. It didn't come out till late afternoon.

19 comments:

  1. London wiki birders site has a report of tawny flying from the direction of the old nest site to the leaf yard on Wednesday 2nd March. Can give you the web site if you need it.

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    1. Many thanks. Careless of me to miss that. Have put a note on the blog.

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  2. Alas, poor goslings! :-(

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    1. Yes, it's a bit pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap at the moment.

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    2. Cheep, cheep.

      I don't think that green plastic barrier they erected at the Lido can have helped - it appeared to prevent the adults' retreat from the water's edge. The young ones scurried through to graze while I watched, but unsupervised.

      Has anyone caught a gull in the act yet?

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  3. I don't think I've ever seen a magpie taking a bath before. Splendid picture!
    What a sad thing about the poor little Egyptians. They survive cocodriles in their habitat, but apparently cannot survive gulls.

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    1. Yet the population here is increasing, while it is static or falling in Africa.

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  4. Nice coincidence. The exhibition which opened today at the Serpentine Gallery has a painting of a black swan and a white swan in a sort of ying/yang relationship.

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    1. Morphic resonance or something.

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    2. This must be the painting mentioned:

      http://www.wikiart.org/en/hilma-af-klint/the-swan-no-17-1915

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    3. Or this one?

      http://www.wikiart.org/en/hilma-af-klint/svanen-1914

      More appropriately war-like perhaps!

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    4. Perhaps someone should tell them that nature is imitating art just outside their door. But I think they are too conceptual to deal with reality.

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    5. It's the less war-like one, no 17. I fear you're right about being too conceptual to deal with reality - possibly why many of their pavilions end up excluding the park rather than embracing it?

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    6. ps Following your suggestion I've emailed the press office.

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    7. It will be interesting to see what happens. One does not expect a timely and apposite response from artistic folk.

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  5. I have never seen a Mandarin in real life before, they are so beautiful! Hopefully I'll see one the next time I'm in London...

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    1. You are likely to see some at any time if you walk up the Regent's Canal from Paddington Station to Regent's Park. This is their breeding ground.

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  6. Sorry Ralph, I intended to mention it here, but have been rather busy visiting hospitals and travelling. I enetered the park (via the Lancaster Gate Entrance) at around 6 and while walking towards the old nest site I heard an owl calling from trees back towards the entrance. I wandered around the area close to the old nest site for about 30 mins. I first checked the 'possible' new nest site that you have previously mentioned, but there appeared to be no sign of activity. Then I saw some movement in the trees and spotted one of the owls in one of the trees just NW of the old nest site. I moved towards it for a better view and it sat and watched me for a few minutes before flying off towards the leafyard. Looking back southwards, I then saw another bird moving in the same direction, but by this time the light was very poor and I could not tell if it was an Owl or one of the Crows that were still a bit restless. Anyway, it is nice to know that they are still around.

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    1. Thanks. Very glad someone else has seen the Tawny Owl. I will have a serious look at those trees tomorrow. We are going to find this creature sooner or later.

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