But there were moments of sunshine. A Mistle Thrush in a hawthorn tree on Buck Hill stared at the camera.
Underneath the tree, a Jay dug up a hazelnut.
At the bottom of the hill a Green Woodpecker was pecking in the grass. It stayed in the same place for several minutes. Perhaps it had found an ants' nest.
An even more severe stare from a Robin in the Rose Garden.
There are still enough flowers here to interest a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee.
A Coal Tit perched in front of red leaves at the bridge.
Another came to take food in the leaf yard.
So did a Nuthatch.
And here I am trying to take the previous two pictures despite interference. Thanks to Tom for this photograph.
A Magpie bathed in the Serpentine.
Another was at the Lido restaurant wondering whether it liked chocolate cake. Surprisingly, it didn't.
But some Starlings had no hesitation in descending on the leavings.
Others were preening on a bush, waiting for their chance of grabbing some leftovers from another table.
The Peregrine perched on the tower of the Household Cavalry barracks.
The pigeon-killing Lesser Black-Backed Gull was enjoying a particularly bloody meal. Crows hung around just outside pecking distance, hoping for a chance ...
... which one of them got while the gull wasn't paying attention. It dragged the pigeon away and had a brief snack before the gull attacked it.
The Black Swan was hanging around with a teenage Mute Swan again.
That picture of the interference perched on your camera is so, so enjoyable. What was it looking for?
ReplyDeleteI think Magpies are more intelligent than humans (or at least than I am). They know too much chocolate is not a good thing, which lesson I have to learn time and time again.
The parakeet was expecting to be fed, and I didn't oblige. It bit my finger, which is why the fingers of my left hand are curled under the lens to get out of reach of its beak.
DeleteChocolate is said to be very bad for mammals such as dogs, which are overstimulated by the theobromine (similar to caffeine) in it. I don't know whether the same effect is seen in birds. Starlings seem to particularly like chocolate cake, but we don't witness what it does to them. There is probably not all that much chocolate in the while mass of the cake, anyway.