Wednesday 16 August 2017

A Grey Wagtail was working its way down the shore at the Lido restaurant. It found a small insect in a patch of algae.


A Long-Tailed Tit preened on a branch beside the Long Water.


The Dunnock in the Rose Garden found what I think was a garishly dyed yellow sugar chip off an M&M. (Smarties come in more subdued natural colours, and don't have a white layer under the shell.)


The more advanced of the two young Robins looked down from a twig.


The female Little Owl at the leaf yard was visible all day in various parts of the chestnut tree.


There was a Grey Heron in the little swamp at the edge of the Vista where a land drain has broken. It was more interested in the land than the water, perhaps looking for mice in the grass.


One of the three young Great Crested Grebes from the nest on the island was fishing by itself.


You can tell when a grebe is about to dive when it sinks slightly and its shoulders go under water. It does this by clenching down its feathers to reduce its buoyancy.

A Moorhen was preening on a chain near the bridge, as usual enjoying balancing in a difficult place.


The Black Swan is now usually found at the landing stage next to the Diana fountain, where there are often people feeding the waterfowl.


This Red-Crested Pochard seen at the Vista is a male in eclipse. He has exactly the same plumage as a female, but his red bill and eye give him away.


There were three female Mandarins at Peter Pan, all regrowing their wing feathers.


The people at Bluebird Boats believe that hanging CDs on strings will scare gulls away from their boats. I don't think this would work even if they were Metallica CDs.


A Holly Blue butterfly was drinking nectar from a borage flower behind the Lido.


Whenever it had been there for a few seconds, a Honeybee would come and knock it off.


There were plenty of borage flowers for everyone, so I don't know why the bee did this. But it happened four times in two minutes, and seemed to be deliberate.

5 comments:

  1. We use CDs and fluttery crime scene type tape to try and dissuade gulls from nesting on the tern rafts.Doesnt keep them all off but there are less nests on the raft with the CDs than there are on the raft with no CDs.We think Daniel O' Donnell CDs do a better job!

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    Replies
    1. Odd that it would affect the gulls but not the terns.

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    2. Of course, this is the notice gulls take of all sort of signs:

      https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/cd/cf/ef/cdcfef455a312f0d7c49535ff426821c.jpg

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    3. A very pleasing picture. But what on earth is the purpose of that sign?

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    4. Perhaps "Don't feed the gulls"? I thought at first that it was photoshopped, but there are similar signs saying not to feed the gulls, apparently:

      https://birdsdowntown.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/gullssign.jpg

      http://c7.alamy.com/comp/ECDJHD/please-do-not-feed-the-gulls-sign-in-weymouth-in-the-harbour-side-ECDJHD.jpg

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