It was a slow day. There was no sign of a Kestrel or of the Little Owl in Hyde Park, and the most exciting moment was seeing a flash of yellow crossing the Italian Garden into a tree. It turned out to be an escaped Budgerigar.
A Great Tit ...
... and a Blue Tit stared impatiently at me because I was photographing them before I fed them.
A flight of Long-Tailed Tits whizzed through the trees near the bridge.
There was a Blackbird eating fruit in the rowan trees on Buck Hill ...
... but the Mistle Thrushes stayed on the ground.
The two young Grey Herons from the nest on the island have started flying around, and they were on the posts at Peter Pan.
Oddly, they had been preceded there by the other young heron, an older teenager which may have come from the upper nest on the island -- impossible to be sure, as the nest is screened by branches.
One of the two young Great Crested Grebes from the nest in the reed bed on the Long Water, usually distant and hard to see, came closer. They are quite grown up now.
The Moorhens in the Dell, who nested unsuccessfuly three times in the spring, have a couple of chicks. One of them reclined on the grassy bank ...
... along with one of the parents.
Migrant Hawker dragonflies are flying around Buck Hill and the Long Water.
There seem to have been quite a few escaped Budgies recently with a few mentioned on Londonbirders. A couple of weeks ago as I walked past a near neighbour's garden there were several parakeets on the feeders + then thought "that's a small parakeet feeding on the lawn amongst the starlings!" + then realised I was in fact looking at a very green budgie!
ReplyDeleteSounds almsot as if PETA have invaded a budgerigar breeder's establishment and released hundreds of ill prepared birds into the wild.
DeleteI walked back past Round Pond with Julia at 7.15 pm and to our amazement a kestrel flew over our heads and landed in a tree beside us! Not sure what there is to eat as the grass is so short and the area is so busy with cyclists and people... but what a treat as we had both not seen them on Buck Hill for a few days and were aware they were on the move.
ReplyDeleteGood to know she's around, but she is really doing us poor photographers no favours. She is not worried by people UNLESS she thinks they're watching her.
DeleteShe is just the Greta Garbo of birds, I guess. No cameras while off duty.
DeleteShe is never ready for her close-up.
Delete