Saturday 21 May 2016

The Mute Swans on the little island in the Long Water have five cygnets.


The Canada gosling is still welcome, and went to snuggle under its stepmother's wing with the others.


It is still wandering around the island on its own. It has some feathers missing from the side of its neck, and may have escaped being snatched by a Herring Gull. But otherwise it seems to be in good shape.

The usual Bar-Headed Goose from Regent's Park paid us another visit.


It is never here for more than a day, but whether it flies back or is recaptured and dragged home I don't know. It is a very fine-looking bird. Wild Bar-Headed Geese spend their winters south of the Himalayas and their summers north of them, and cross the mountains at amazing altitudes twice a year. Airline pilots cruiseing at 35,000 feet sometimes see them from their cabin windows, flying level with the aeroplane.

The Black Swan was resting on the gravel bank at the Vista, but came over as soon as he saw someone feeding the waterfowl.


Again, he was without his girlfriend. I really think they have split up, though this bird continues to surprise.

A pair of Mandarins have taken to resting beside the bridge.


A lot of Swifts were flying over the lake, and there were also a couple of dozen House Martins.


The young Pied Wagtail was hunting on the south side of the Serpentine, completely ignoring the crowds of people walking along the edge. It has not been with its parents for several days, and seems to be completely independent now.


Unlike this young Starling at the Dell restaurant ...


... which was waiting for its parents to deliver some pizza.


The usual Grey Heron was absent from the restaurant. It was on the shore enjoying some cooked rice, managing to eat it quite well with its built-in chopsticks.


The male Little Owl in the chestnut tree was being bothered by Magpies again.


As before, he faced down one. But one a second Magpie arrived he gave up and flew into the nest hole.

5 comments:

  1. The swan/cygnets/gosling photo is just delightful. Thank you.

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  2. such lovely photos of the swan with her cygnets and lovely to see the gosling is being looked after!

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    1. With luck we should soon see them in a little procession on the Long Water.

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  3. Could the Bar-Headed Goose be any prettier? To be a fly on the wall (or the cockpit) when pilots catch a sight of geese flying level with them!

    Crossing my fingers that the Swans continue to care for the gosling. It should be both lovely and amusing to see.

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    1. You can see the Bar-Headed Goose's impressive flying gear in Sunday's post.

      But I am worried about the Canada gosling. No one I spoke to today had seen it.

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