... you get a lot of other takers, such as Jackdaws ...
... and Jays.
A Great Tit paused to pick out a bit of dead wood to see if there were any insects under it.
When the Rose-Ringed Parakeets arrive and start brawling, it's time to move on.
This one was eating rowan berries in the tree on Buck Hill. They are well camouflaged in summer when they match the leaves but, as the leaves change colour, they become more visible.
In winter, they are absurdly conspicuous. They are Indian birds, not adapted to life in deciduous trees, which require the quiet colours and disruptive spots of a thrush
In the same tree, a Blackbird had a long reach to pick some ripe berries.
A Great Spotted Woodpecker was looking for insects in a dead tree at the bottom of the hill.
A Coal Tit looked out from an absurdly pink bush.
The male Tufted Ducks are now back in their smart breeding plumage.
A Great Crested Grebe was finding plenty of perch next to the Italian Garden.
The Cormorants have stopped fishing in this place, as there are not enough fish to satisfy them. But grebes are more precise operators, and can find fish where the headlong charge of a Cormorant fails.
A Lesser Black-Backed Gull was finishing off the mangled corpse of a pigeon from which the pigeon-killing gull and his mate had eaten their fill. The pigeon killer was looking on from the Dell restaurant roof, happily sated and not inclined to interfere.
The young Grey Heron was waiting for scraps from the restaurant terrace, lucky that the notice doesn't apply to it.
I love your 'Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons' photographs. European species can look spectacular too. I think the Coal Tit is sitting in a Spindle tree (Euonymus europaeus). In autumn it produces pink fruit with orange seeds and its leaves turn soft pink.
ReplyDeleteJustyna C.
I don't think it is, as there is no fruit on it at all. There's another picture in Sunday's blog post, where you can see how the leaves hang in little bunches.
DeleteThe Coal Tit sits very pretty in pink, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteI think the young Heron can read. It has stationed itself where food will be abundant (who can resist such a pretty - for a heron- bird?) and competition (from pigeons) scarce.
That bird certainly knows it's on to a good thing. It comes up to the railings and stares appealing at people at the tables.
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