Flocks of Long-Tailed Tits are dashing around all over the park. These were at the top of Buck Hill.
Everyone is scanning them to try to see if the elusive Yellow-Browed Warbler is with them. I did see a small warbler flying with them across the road into Hyde Park, but it was at some height directly above my head, and much more likely to be a Chiffchaff.
A Blackbird was drinking from a puddle.
It has to take a beakful of water and then throw its head back to swallow it. The only birds that can drink without doing this are pigeons, which seem to be able to roll their tongues to make a sort of drinking straw up which they can suck water continuously.
A Starling was shining in the sunlight on one of the teak planters at the Lido restaurant, waiting for a chance to grab some food from a table.
The young Grey Heron pushed to the front of the birds at the Dell restaurant, which were being fed by the diners on the terrace.
The other young heron was shuffling its feet on the roof of one of the small boathouses.
A Black-Headed Gull was chasing another one which had picked up a bit of bread.
A Cormorant surfaced next to a rock in the Long Water and was shocked to find a Coot staring down at it.
The four Moorhen chicks in the Dell were in a huddle together on the grass.
They are much less adventurous than the ones in the Italian Garden, which were wandering all over the place almost from the moment they hatched. Yet the Dell is a much safer place for them, with few gulls.
A Great Crested Grebe on the Serpentine was preening its brilliant white underside.
A male Tufted Duck, not yet fully white on the sides, was scratching its ear.
The female Little Owl was basking in the sunlight in the upper chestnut tree by the leaf yard.
The Chicken of the Woods fungus near Peter Pan, which was a shapeless yellow blob when I first photographed it, is developing its complicated layers. Fortunately it's behind a spiked railing, so it can be watched as it grows without someone kicking it to pieces, as happens sadly often.
Lovely pictures! Pretty Long-Tailed Tits, pretty Starling! They are so worth the wait.
ReplyDeleteWow, a Yellow-Browed Warbler! Sighting of some of them triggered here a mass trek of bird fanciers up north to Galicia a couple of years ago. I hope you will get the chance of seeing it.
Thanks for waiting and for your earlier comment on my apology for lateness, which has now been deleted.
DeleteThere have been quite a few sightings of Yellow-Browed Warblers in London recently. It seems that they are moving in, as the Cetti's Warbler did in recent years. I'm not adding it to my species list for the park until there has been another sighting -- and it would be pleasing if it were by me, because I've been looking out for it to the best of my ability.
The Chicken of the Woods will cook up nicely, sautéed or braised (in chicken stock), if young and fresh; sometimes a newly-destroyed specimen can be at least put to good use.
ReplyDeleteWhile I like forgaing for mushrooms, I fear I'll have to leave this one for someone young and agile enough to vault the spiked railings without eviscerating himself.
DeleteThe Starling photo is just so BEAUTIFUL!!!
ReplyDelete