Wednesday 1 November 2017

A Redwing appeared in the rowan trees on Buck Hill. It was hard to see among the twigs, but Tom got this good unobstructed view.


There were also the usual Blackbirds ...


... and a Mistle Thrush waiting in the adjacent hawthorn tree.


A Dunnock perched on the yew tree north of Peter Pan. It was quite hard to recognise from a low angle with the light behind it.


The search for the Firecrest produced a call from the bushes on the west side of the nursery, but as before the only birds that came into view were Goldcrests.


A Coal Tit came to collect a pine nut near the bridge, and got quite impatient when it had to wait for me to photograph it.


A Robin and a Great Tit came to my hand, and I filmed them in 4x slow motion. This speed must be something like the experience of the bird itself.  I can only manage 480p in this mode, so it's a bit low-resolution.


A Jackdaw posed in a red oak.


The Little Owl at the leaf yard was in her chestnut tree.


A Carrion Crow beside the Serpentine shook the last crumbs out of a crisp packet.


The two pigeon-killing Lesser Black-Backed Gulls were together again at the Dell restaurant, with no sign of conflict between them, though number two stayed well clear of number one's pigeon. A crow had other ideas and got chased off.


A Little Grebe skittered down the Long Water.


A Grey Heron and an Egyptian Goose exchanged hostile stares on top of the Henry Moore sculpture.


A preening Gadwall stretched a wing beside the Serpentine.


The Black Swan was in a crowd of birds being fed, not worried by the Mute Swan next to him raising wings in threat and giving him a nasty look.

12 comments:

  1. Excellent Robin etc film! Most enjoyable to see them like that.(And congratulations on a very steady hand)

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    1. Wish I could get better video quality at this speed. But it captures a moment.

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    2. It's a wonderful video! We get to see in detail how well the Robin coordinates feet and wings to land. That is one cheeky Robin, by the way!

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    3. It's taken this Robin some time to build up confidence. Now it thinks of me as a sort of table that appears occasionally.

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  2. Hi Ralph I love your blog and its great to see what is in these wonderful parks. When I travel up to London on business I usually make time to visit Hyde Park after coming in or before returning to Paddington for the train home. I am coming this Friday and would love to see the Little Owl. Could you describe where the Leaf Yard is please? I'd really appreciate it.
    Many thanks
    Richard Williams

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    1. The leaf yard is the square enclosure that has the statue of Peter Pan on its east side, overlooking the Long Water. The Little Owl tree is on the south side of the enclosure, which slopes up towards Kensington Palace. About a third of the way up the slope, and about 30 yards from the railings of the yard, there is a very old and broken sweet chestnut tree with a tangle of brambles around its base -- none of the other chestnuts has brambles. This is the Little Owl tree. If you stand on the west side of this tree, under the next chestnut tree up the hill, and look up carefully you may be able to see the Little Owl. It's no easy, as they are small and look like bits of tree bark.

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  3. Thank you very much Ralph for your prompt and detailed reply. That bank of the Long Water is where I normally walk along so I will definitely go and have a look on Friday morning before I head to my meetings.
    Many thanks
    Richard

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  4. If you copy and paste this into google maps search bar, you will have the exact spot to stand to view the owl. You can add a label to this point on the google maps app so you can get yourself to the exact spot Ralph means. 51.507540, -0.176218

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    1. Thanks, James. That puts the marker on the centre of the Little Owl tree, so you want to stand on the grass to the left. Note that the 'you are here' mark that you get when using Google Maps on a smartphone is none too accurate, so use the satellite image as a guide to the location of the trees rather than walking to what the marker thinks is 51.507540, -0.176218.

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    2. Thank you both that's brilliant and the best of the Web: strangers helping each other.
      Let's hope I find it...I'll let you know
      Richard Williams (from work)

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  5. That crow is doing its best with a packet of Tyrrell's 'lightly sea-salted' crisps. I would have expected a gull to be more interested, rather than such a non-pelagic bird.

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    1. I'm surprised that birds seem to be able to deal with over-salted human snacks without apparent harm to them.

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