The number of Chaffinches in the park, much reduced by a virus disease, has suddenly risen. Three were foraging on the ground near the bridge, with a further two in the bushes behind.
There are also two in the Rose Garden and one in the leaf yard.
A flower bed in the Rose Garden was being dug up to put in the winter border. A Magpie looked for worms in the freshly turned earth.
A Robin couldn't go in till the Mapgie left. It waited on the nearby rail.
A Blue Tit ...
... and a Dunnock looked on from the other side of the path.
Some Long-Tailed Tits passed through.
A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee was working its way through some pink roses.
The young Lesser Black-Backed Gull at the Dell restaurant was trying to hunt pigeons like its father. It didn't have any idea of how to do it, but it will learn. The father needed several years of practice before it could catch pigeons at all regularly.
A young Black-Headed Gull played with a feather. Thanks to Tom for this picture.
A Little Grebe appeared on the Long Water, the first I've seen there for several months.
You can tell when a Great Crested Grebe is about to dive. It clamps down its feathers to reduce its buoyancy, and its shoulders sink under the water.
One of the young grebes from the family near the bridge was fishing. It paused to yawn.
Bar-Headed Geese are smaller than Greylags and lighter on their feet, and walk briskly without waddling.
The railings at the southeast corner of the leaf yard are being extended to protect one of the 428-year-old sweet chestnut trees. The hordes of people feeding the Rose-Ringed Parakeets have trampled down the soil around it, making it hard for rainwater to reach its roots.
It was raining, so two activities had to take place at once in the shelter on Buck Hill. It must have been very hard to stay mindful in the circumstances.
Dear God. Well, when I had to take my first dan examination (15 years ago!), one of the ways in which we prepared ourselves was to go through the drills while all the rest of our gym mates hurled objects at us and did their best to mock and jeer, the rationale being that one ought to keep concentration at all costs, and what better way to acclimate oneself to outside distractions and learn to keep your marbles about you than being subjected to a stream of indignities for practice. Perhaps it is the same with mindfulness. Who knows.
ReplyDeleteWho indeed? I think that shelter is in the Twilight Zone.
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