... and when I went by later it seemed to be busy with something on the ledge, maybe a pigeon. It has a ring on its right leg, which of course is impossible to read.
The park's Feral Pigeons are now being hunted by a pair of Peregrines, a pair of Sparrowhawks and two Lesser Black-Backed Gulls. But there's an endless supply of more pigeons from the surrounding streets.
Pied Wagtails were running around of the grass below, too small to interest the Peregrine.
A Grey Wagtail was bathing in the little pool at the top of the Dell waterfall.
The Mistle Thrushes on Buck Hill, having eaten all the yew berries, have come back to the rowan trees.
They were joined by a couple of Rose-Ringed Parakeets.
A Starling took a dominant position on one of the miniature conifers at the Lido restaurant, and sang to celebrate its success.
You don't usually see a bird eating salad. In this case I think the Starling was interested in the mayonnaise, with which its face is liberally smeared.
An interval of hazy sunshine started a Great Tit singing in a wild rose bush near the bridge.
A Coal Tit came to take food from my hand.
The Little Owl at the leaf yard was in her usual tree.
A Black-Headed Gull chased a Carrion Crow over the Serpentine. The chase went on for several minutes, and it was always the small gull chasing the larger crow.
A Lesser Black-Backed Gull at the Round Pond felt like a rest.
I couldn't find the Little Grebe there today.
The sloping concrete edge of the Serpentine is covered with algae and very slippery. The Black Swan had a hard time getting out of the water, but he prefers to enjoy his daily treat of birdseed on land where it's harder for the other swans to muscle in.
The almost dead horse chestnut tree just north of the Henry Moore sculpture, which had a Dryad's Saddle fungus on it in 2015, has another fungus on it. I can't identify it.
Has he realized that the other Swans are clumsier on the ground than he is? Whoever said swans are all brawn no brain?
ReplyDeletePigeons shall inherit the earth after the planet gets rid of us, for sheer hardihood. I don't think even cockroaches stand a chance against them.
Although the Black Swan is often chased on the water, when he is on land with the other swans they leave him alone. Perhaps they have realised that he can run and they can't.
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