Wednesday 30 August 2017

It was a day of steady rain, but Grey Herons take no notice of such things.


The rowan tree on Buck Hill, so busy yesterday, contained just one young Blackbird.


There were no Blackbirds in the hawthorn next to it, where they usually congregate. They would have been on the ground looking for worms brought up by the rain. In their absence, a Robin struck a proud attitude.


A wet day is often a good time to find one of the Little Owls near the Albert Memorial. Their branch is not as good a shelter as you would think, since it's split along the top edge, and the place just inside the hole is one of the few parts that doesn't let in the rain.


The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gulls were on the roof of the Dell restaurant. The female had not washed her face after her bloody lunch.


The Great Crested Grebe family on the Long Water could be seen from the bridge. One of the three chicks was under the willow tree and wouldn't come out to be photographed.


An outboard motor provided a place for one of the young Coots to preen. Three of the brood at the Bluebird Boats platform have survived.


The Moorhen family near the bridge has been a surprising success, with five survivors from the original seven. Here are four of them with a parent ...


... and the fifth, a few yards up the shore.


The youngest Egyptian Goose on the Serpentine has been a sole survivor since it was tiny. It's now a handsome teenager.


The Black Swan was preening near the bridge.


The white Mallard was farther up the shore. I've been hoping to get the two into the same picture, but they won't cooperate.


A patch of duckweed on the Long Water provided a feast for a Mallard.


There's a new noticeboard at Peter Pan showing the birds on the Long Water, a much needed replacement for the tatty old one which was barely legible. This is the best photograph I could manage, since it's still fenced off while the concrete sets around the base. The birds are well drawn and described, and there is quite a good selection.


A casual visitor would be lucky to see a Little Grebe, and amazingly lucky to see a Cetti's Warbler, below and to the right of the grebe. A Red-Crested Pochard looked up at me from the water, as if sad not to be included.


There is also no picture of a Mandarin. Both are often seen here. Although they are park escapes now gone feral, so is the Egyptian Goose and, going back to the 17th century, the Canada Goose.

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