We will keep an eye on this and hope to get some pictures of chicks being fed.
The Mute Swan family were out on the Long Water, with one of the cygnets riding on its mother's back.
The Black Swan was with his girlfriend, but rushed over to the shore when someone started throwing bread and competed with the white Mallard to grab bits.
The Great Crested Grebes at the island were feeding their chick with some small water creature.
I think there only is one chick, and what looked like a second one in yesterday's photograph was the light glinting on the parent's wing.
Blondie the Egyptian Goose was with her family near Bluebird Boats. I could only see five chicks, but it is possible that there were more under her wings.
The sole surviving Canada gosling on the Serpentine is growing quickly.
There was no sign of the one on the Long Water, and it is probably a goner.
But the one remaining Mandarin ducking is still around near the bridge, and growing visibly.
The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull was enjoying his lunch.
Another in the series of the strange foods that people give to birds: these Greylag Geese were eating couscous.
Several Pied Wagtails were sprinting around on the grass at the south side of the Serpentine with their peculiar high-stepping gait.
The male Little Owl was out in his chestnut tree.
A minute after this picture was taken, some Magpies flew in and he retreated to his hole. They are giving him a very hard time.
Magpies can be a nuisance. Much as I love them. I meant to ask, how is the Little Owl population in Britain faring? In Spain population decline has reached catastrophic levels.
ReplyDeleteThat picture of the Canada Geese goose-stepping is just glorious.
Numbers of Little Owls are falling a bit after an earlier increase. Little Owls were scarce in this country until the late 19th century, when they were deliberately introduced as house owls to eat beetles and cockroaches. Like many birds, they seem to be adapting to an urban habitat. In the park, they have gone from zero to at least ten in five years, but this may be exceptional.
DeleteCan we safely declare Project: Canute a disastrous failure? What has the (semi)scientific community learnt from this?
ReplyDeleteP.S. I don't suppose the Wildlife Officer could save the day somehow?
Think it's too late. No one has seen the gosling. Sad, but it's not as if Canada Geese were an endangered species.
DeleteI don't know what a "house owl" is, but I want one.
ReplyDeleteI'm told that if you look after an owl chick from an early age, it becomes completely domesticated. But not house trained: you have been warned.
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