Saturday 26 August 2017

A Common Tern passed high over the Long Water and went on its way, possibly heading for St James's Park. We aren't seeing many terns here this year.


Higher still, a Red Kite went over Buck Hill.


A pair of Herring Gulls on the edge of the Serpentine moaned affectionately at each other, and one of them uttered a long call.


The new Great Crested Grebe family were out on the Long Water.


Tom found the Bar-Headed Goose on one of its visits from St James's Park.


He also took this pleasing low-level view of the Black Swan. I am too old and stiff to easily lie down and take shots like this.


A Mute Swan reached up to pull a tasty leaf out of the reed bed by the Diana fountain.


A Mistle Thrush ate berries in the rowan trees at the top of Buck Hill.


There were Long-Tailed Tits in a hawthorn at the bottom of the hill.


A Starling perched regally on the knob of an umbrella at the Lido restaurant.


The female Little Owl was in her usual chestnut tree near the leaf yard.


A caterpillar crossed the paving of the Italian Garden at an impressive speed for a creature with rudimentary legs. I photographed another caterpillar of this species on 7 August, and think it's a White Ermine moth, Spilosoma lubricipeda. But I have never seen the adult form of this moth, a handsome white insect with black spots as its name suggests.

6 comments:

  1. hi ralph. how wonderful too see a red kite over the park !! i never thought i would see that !..

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  2. Red Kites are spreading. There will be more and more. That was the third I've seen over the park.

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  3. Pauline Gilbertson28 August 2017 at 13:03

    I supervised a White Ermine moth caterpillar scuttering across the path near the reed beds opposite the Diana Fountain last Tuesday 22nd August. I had no idea what it was but tweeted my photo to some butterfly experts and they confirmed it was Spilosoma lubricipeda. Like you I've never seen the actual moth but it seems there must be plenty around here.

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    1. Glad to have some confirmation about the caterpillar. I did it from a book, with a check on the web as a backup. Not too reliable.

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  4. Pauline Gilbertson28 August 2017 at 13:06

    Absolutely love your posed Starling. Definitely either Starling royalty or a would-be supermodel of the Starling world.

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    1. They do it all themselves. Wait for the sun to come out, and stand so that your shadow just misses the Starling. It will light up like a neon sign.

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