Saturday 2 April 2016

A male Brambling has been seen over the past two days in the garden of the Ranger's Lodge, taking peanuts from a feeder. Here it is under the feeder picking up spilt nuts. There were a Dunnock and a Chaffinch with it.


The Ranger's Lodge is a large house just to the south of the police station on the north side of the Serpentine. It's private, and this rather distant picture was taken over the fence.

Chiffchaffs have been singing loudly all round the lake. This one was at the Lido restaurant among the red stems of the bushes, most of which have just been savagely pruned but for some reason one has been left.


A Blackcap was singing at the northwest corner of the bridge. I didn't get a picture of him, but did manage to get what I thought was his mate, but actually it seems to be another Chiffchaff looking deceptively slim and grey.


A pair of Long-Tailed Tits were gathering nest material nearby.


The Great Crested Grebes nesting on the other side of the path have decorated their nest with a red plastic ball. They find this colour particularly exciting, and I have seen another pair do exactly the same.


The grebes at the east end of the Serpentine were hanging around their nest site on the end of the reed raft. You can't really call it a nest, because they haven't built anything and are just sitting on the platform of the raft.


The Black Swan and his girlfriend were cruising around the Long Water, along with several Mute Swans from the Serpentine.


The dominant male, who should have been shooing them off, was with his mate who was sitting on the little island.

The blonde Mallard was with her mate on the north shore of the Serpentine.


The Little Owl near the Albert Memorial was in its usual hole in the oak tree.


And the owl near the Henry Moore sculpture was also in its place in the tall lime.


Another litter of baby rabbits has just appeared, the third one this year if I have been observing correctly. This one was wandering around in the thicket to the north of the memorial, eating some very small shoots of grass that were pushing their way up through the dead leaves.

3 comments:

  1. I think those red stems in the photograph belong to dogwoods. They are often cut right down to the ground at this time of year, as it is the new growth that has the best colour. I am just dithering about cutting mine back, but in Windsor Great Park, they too have gone for savage pruning, so I think it is the way to go! Latin name: Cornaceae.

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    1. I'm sure you're right. What I know about garden plants could be typed on a postage stamp.

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    2. Ditto my knowledge of birds, but you are teaching me a lot!

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