Sunday 25 February 2018

In spite of the cold spell, spring is unstoppable and trees are blossoming all over the park. A Wood Pigeon was eating flower buds.


A pair of Greylag Geese were mating at the east end of the Serpentine.


So were a pair of Coots on the Round Pond.


Most of the Shovellers had flown up from the lake to the Round Pond. They spun in pairs, because there were not enough of them to create one of their grand circular feeding processions, for which about 50 birds are needed.


A Mute Swan executed a right turn over the Long Water.


They have a very wide turning circle and have to get above the treetops to turn. I've seen a swan that didn't do this crash into a tree and fall ignominiously through the branches to the ground, fortunately without huring anything but its dignity.

This is not a problem for Common Gulls, which can turn on a sixpence.


A Great Spotted Woodpecker was drumming at the top of a tree in the leaf yard.


A Jackdaw perched on a lower branch.


A Blue Tit waited at a convenient height for flying over to take a pine nut from my hand.


A Robin perched on a net over a reed bed bear the Vista, also waiting to be fed.


A little flock of Starlings had discovered a good patch of wireworms on the Vista, and were making the most of it until disturbed by an approaching dog.


The flock of Redwings was on the grass between the Dell and the Rose Garden, surprisingly calm among the Sunday visitors walking nearby. One pulled up a worm.


The Wren in the Flower Walk was also unworried, though it did have to get off the crowded path and move into a flower bed.


The Little Owl near the Albert Memorial had come out of her hole and was sunning herself near the top of the oak tree, in spite of the freezing wind.


At the Vista, a model for a yoghurt advertisement was doing her best to pretend it was summer.

3 comments:

  1. Poor girl. She looks as if she is freezing.

    The Wren looks a bit anxious in that picture, doesn't it? On the other hand, the Little Owl is looking again at you with some curiosity.

    I always thought swans are a bit like B-52s in almost all regards (let's hope the Russians don't hear me - they wouldn't like to know that I have misappropriated the name of their Tu-160s). We once had the immense luck to see one of them in an airshow (the aircraft was scheduled to be en route to another airbase and as luck would have it its transit fell in with the last part of the airshow, so the organizing committee of the fair jumped at the chance to have it appear in the programme, even if at a distance). The space the B-52 needed to execute a turning circle was absolutely jaw-dropping; the diameter of the circle must have been the whole length of the city we were in.

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    Replies
    1. I did choose the only picture of the Wren when it was looking in my direction.

      I have never had the luck to see a B-52. There is an interesting
      article on the Going Postal blog which suggests that they will still be flying a hundred years after the prototype first took off, beating even the DC-3 for longevity.

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  2. Thank you for the link. The picture of the B-52 with all the armament sheltering under its wings is absolutely stunning.

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