The pair at the east end of the Serpentine have been encouraged by seeing the chicks and are thinkig of nesting themselves. One brandished a bit of algae at the other ...
... and brought a large stick. They examined a possible place at the edge of the reed bed.
When they dropped the stick, a Coot came and took it to the nest at the Serpentine outflow.
A Coot on the Serpentine kept pecking one of its chicks out of the way. It was the smallest one, and I thought it was being persecuted, but later I saw the same Coot pecking a different chick, so I suppose it was just exasperated by their incessant demands for food. Meanwhile a Lesser Black-Backed Gull was approaching hungrily, and both parents chased it off.
The recent warm weather has caused a bloom of algae at the north end of the Long Water, but the local Coot family don't mind.
It was also brought out an enormous number of midges. The Mallard with one duckling at the Vista was catching them efficiently, and the duckling was doing quite well too.
The Mute Swan family had come up to the Vista, and the female was looking after the cygnets under a tree while her mate chased off some low-ranking swans.
All was well with the two Canada Goose families on the Serpentine. This is all 15 of the larger brood in a heap togther.
When a dog approached, their parents led them into the water.
The two pairs of Greylags and their goslings were just along the shore.
A Moorhen with nothing better to do nattered quietly in a reed bed.
Grey Herons and Carrion Crows don't get along with each other, and neither do herons with other herons.
Mistle Thrushes really hate crows, which try to eat their young. This one near the Physical Energy statue was scolding a crow on the ground below.
At the Dell restaurant, a Starling waited in the hawthorn tree for a chance to grab some food off a table.
The male Little Owl at the leaf yard was exceptionally well hidden in his chestnut tree, and I could only get a small glimpse of him. But it was good to know he was ther.
What excellent camouflage! The Little Owl could almost be playing peekaboo.
ReplyDeleteOf course a Coot would make the most of a big stick. Of course. Speaking of Coots, that was puzzling behaviour. One of the parents begins to peck away at the chicks (I began to fear that we were headed to filicide again), and yet it clearly must mean no serious harm: if they wanted the smallest chick dead they wouldn't have shooed away the Gull with such energy, I imagine.
How loving and affectionate Grebes are. I never tired of watching them greeting one another.