Friday 5 May 2017

Two young Mistle Thrushes were pestering their parents on the grass east of the Dell.


The adults looked into tree holes for insects ...


... and caught more on the grass ...


... and also worms for them.


When the parents weren't looking, one of the young ones caught a larva for itself.


A Magpie was also finding grubs at the edge of the Serpentine.


A Grey Wagtail caught an insect at the Lido, possibly a Mayfly ...


... and a Pied Wagtail was hunting on the plastic matting of the Lido jetty.


A Long-Tailed Tit collected a beakful of insects for its brood.


One of the pair of pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gulls was in the usual place on the Dell restaurant roof, looking at what might have been lunch.


But it was the female of the pair, and she doesn't have the hunting skills of her mate.

The Great Crested Grebe family came out from their nest on to the open water of the Serpentine. I could only see one chick ...


... but was told later that there were three, seen when they were being transferred from one parent to another.

One of the pair of grebes at the east end of the lake came too close to them, and there was a brief fight.


The Coot nesting near the bridge had rigged up a little sunshade.


No doubt this was accidental, but the Coot was still using it to shade its eyes.

There was a dead Mute Swan on the Long Water, not one of the dominant pair. It may have been killed by a poplar tree that fell into the lake early this morning.

The Mallards near the bridge are somehow still hanging on to their four ducklings.


A young Herring Gull nearby was paying no attention to them, because it had found an interesting green plastic thing and was playing with it.


The male Little Owl at the leaf yard was in and out of his hole all afternoon.

7 comments:

  1. Yay, stripey little heads!

    That young Mistle Thrush has a suspiciously guilty expression on its face. I'm sure it feared that if mom and dad learned that it is able to hunt for itself hand-me-downs will dwindle significantly.

    That sunshade is just the best. Cootly engineering at its finest.

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    1. The leaf over the Coot's head reminded me of the bus stop scene in My Neighbour Totoro.

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  2. Oh yes! That's absolutely perfect!

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  3. Great Mistle Thrushes pics Ralph
    On the London Bird Club lots of things were reported today, including a Wheatear, Sedge and Reed Warblers, Lesser Whitethroat and also 2 Black Terns, which caught my eye.
    Any news of these sightings?

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    1. That's the only news I've seen. Heard both Reed and Sedge Warblers today, without seeing them, but missed Black Terns and Wheatear. Will keep an eye out for them now. But you know what birdwatching is like.

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    2. Yes indeed!
      Hopefully you got something today

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  4. Ralph, as I walked through Kensington Court yesterday, I saw a raptor chasing a bird in flight. It then turned and went onto the roof of one of the houses, where it disappeared behind the dutch gable. I think it was a sparrowhawk (?) And I also wondered if it was nesting up there because of the way it disappeared. What do you think? I have never seen a raptor there before.

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