Saturday 6 August 2016

The Tufted duckling on the Serpentine has survived another day. It avoided an attack from a swooping Herring Gull by diving promptly.


The Mallard near the island still has five ducklings.


And the Great Crested Grebes at the other end of the island are in good shape.


The lake is teeming with small fish just the right size for baby grebes. The teenage grebe from the same parents was hauling fish out every minute.


The Black Swan chased a Mute Swan away from his adopted cygnet so ferociously that the swan took refuge on shore.


On the south side of the Serpentine 50 yards from the bridge there is a pile of sandbags in the water, put there to hold down some rubber hoses which supply air to the bubblers that are supposed to aerate the lake. There is usually a Mute Swan poking at these bags. I wondered why, and Paul explained that snails collect on the bags, and the swan was picking them off.


A Wood Pigeon was eating blackberries in a bramble patch near the bridge.


This young Robin in the Rose Garden is just beginning to grow his red feathers.


The cardoons in the Rose Garder are attracting a lot of bees. Honeybees are small enough to wander through the spiky flowers, but this bumblebee was having to repeatedly climb in and out.


Update: David Element writes that it isn't the usual Buff-Tailed Bumblebee but belongs to the species group Bombus lucorum, whose subspecies are hard to distinguish.

In the reeds near the bridge there was a Banded Demoiselle, Calopteryx splendens. The dark band on its wings was not showing clearly, and I thought it was a Beautiful Demoiselle, Calopteryx virgo, but I have since been corrected by eagle-eyed readers.


One of the Little owlets near the Albert Memorial was having a stretch.


The male Little Owl near the leaf yard was basking in the sun on his favourite branch.

5 comments:

  1. Do you think that might be a Banded Demoiselle?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That was what I thought when I saw it. But see here.

      Delete
    2. These are murky waters Ralph. My other half had a photo he took of a Banded Demoiselle published on a wildlife gallery - it's the first picture, top left. And I felt there might be a resemblance to your critter! https://visionsofnature.net/your-vision-of-nature/

      Delete
    3. Have now had a second opinion that it's a Banded Demoiselle, and have changed the text. Thanks for your correction.

      Delete
    4. Oh thanks for the update Ralph.

      Delete