Two of them, in different places beside the Long Water, came out on twigs and were clearly interested, but neither dared to take the plunge. They will soon.
While I was looking over the parapet of the Italian Garden, the white-faced Blackbird flew over and landed beside me, expecting her daily treat of sultanas.
A Grey Wagtail on the edge of the Serpentine peered into a clump of weeds to see if there were any insects in it.
A Young Pied Wagtail beside the Round Pond stared at the camera.
Swifts were flying low over the Long Water.
Charlie and Melissa the Carrion Crows have a single young one, which was pestering them near the Triangle car park. Charlie came over to collect a peanut to give it.
The young Magpies are still chasing their parents for food.
A Mute Swan cropped algae off the concrete edge of the Serpentine with a rapid scissoring movement.
The Black Swan was near the island. He seems quite peaceful at the moment, and is not chasing the Mute Swans either for courtship or for combat.
The eldest of this year's young Canada Geese is now looking like a miniature adult. It can't fly yet.
You would scarecely guess that this Mandarin is a drake. He is in full eclipse, and only a couple of red feathers on his neck remain of his breeding finery.
He is moulting his wing feathers, and is temporarily flightless. His current drab plumage camouflages him when he is in this vulnerable state.
The young Great Crested Grebe was in the middle of the Serpentine. It was only diving for fish occasionally, which is probably a good sign, showing that its crash course in feeding itself has been successful. Adult grebes spend most of their time resting.
The female Little Owl at the leaf yard turned round and gave me a severe stare.
The rabbits in the enclosure of the Henry Moore sculpture, almost wiped out last year by fox predation and myxomatosis, seem to be bouncing back, and there were five of them on the grass, of which I could only get three into the frame.
"Adult grebes spend most of their time resting"...and looking astonishingly beautiful! I still recall your picture of sleeping Grebes as slippers.
ReplyDeleteOne could make a wonderful pair of fur fabric slippers in the form of sleeping grebes, like this.
ReplyDeleteWhatever happened to the Girlfriend, now that I think of it? Would the Black Swan recognize her?
ReplyDeleteThose young Great Tits have such an intelligent-looking, eager little face.
Not grebes, but there **are** mallard slippers:
https://www.bunnyslippers.com/shop/Mallard-Duck-Slippers.html
We still have to see how the returned Black Swan will interact with the other swans. But even if he meets his former girlfriend I don't think they'll get back together. He originally went for her because she was still grey, and reminded him of an immature Black Swan, which is also grey though darker. She grew considerably whiter during his courtship, but now she is pure white and looks just like his rivals, and may have a prospective mate of her own. I can't recognise her any more, though possibly Jorgen can.
DeleteSplendid slippers. You couldn't have feet like that on a grebe pair because they would be at the back, so you'd do better to assume that they were invisibly folded up under its wings.