Monday 20 November 2017

Two Cormorants were fishing under the fountains in the Italian Garden. Perhaps the turbulent water attracts fish to cluster there.


One of them was distracted by a falling leaf.


Moorhens drank a spilt cupful of hot chocolate. We are often told that chocolate is harmful, even fatal, to animals, but many birds seem to love it.


A young Herring Gull was playing with a stone, flying up with it, dropping it in the water, and catching it before it sank.


The Big Bird statue near the Diana fountain is a popular perch for Black-Headed Gulls.


Inside the fountain enclosure, the Egyptian Goose who had a wire from some fishing tackle caught tight around his foot can now walk almost without limping. He will recover completely in a couple of days.


A female Shoveller was feeding among fallen oak leaves beside the Dell restaurant terrace.


A Grey Wagtail was also on the edge of the terrace looking for insects.


A Long-Tailed Tit found a small larva on a twig. A flock of them was constantly going round the lake, and I passed them several times.


They were accompanied by other small birds including a Goldcrest.


A Great Tit perched against a background of pink leaves in a bush near the bridge.


A Wren came out on a twig for a moment.


After yesterday's panorama of Little Owls, there was only one to be seen today, the female in the lime tree near the Henry Moore sculpture. It was a drizzly day, but she is much tougher about bad weather than the other Little Owls.

2 comments:

  1. Wow, the picture of the Great Tit nearly took my breath away. Splendid composition!

    Moorhens surely think that there is no ill that cannot be alleviated by hot chocolate. Stomach pains will be an acceptable consequence, I guess.

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    1. Apparently the dangerous substance in chocolate is theobromine, similar to caffeine. It revs up the system of animals to a dangerous extent, and it is said that dogs have died from eating chocolate. However, it should be noted that only high quality plain chocolate contains a lot of the stuff. The chocolate cake that sends Starlings into a feeding frenzy wouldn't contain much, and this cocoa from a snack bar even less.

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