Wednesday 24 October 2018

The two Peregrines were on the barracks again. The male got restless ... 


... and whizzed off at a speed that made him impossible to track with the camera.


The other scourge of the Feral Pigeons, the notorious Lesser Black-Backed Gull, had already eaten and was enjoying a scratch.


Two Coots examined the remains of the victim and went away without touching it.


A Grey Heron posed elegantly on the bridge.


Another was reflected in the stream in the Dell.


The Mallard drakes are looking smart and shiny in their new plumage.


The secondary feathers of an Egyptian Goose's wing also shine beautifully in the sunshine.


A Cormorant flew down the Long Water.


A Carrion Crow emerged dripping wet from a bath in the lake.


A Jay waited to to swoop down and seize a peanut from my hand.


A Mistle Thrush perched in a treetop on Buck Hill, rattling loudly to attract others so that they could have a mass raid on the rowan tree.


It seems strange that other thrushes -- Song Thrushes, Blackbirds, Redwings and Fieldfares -- are happy to visit the tree on their own, but Mistle Thrushes always need to have company.

A Wren appeared in a bush on the edge of the Long Water.


A Coal Tit perched among the pink leaves of a shrub near the bridge.


It's almost impossible to video Long-Tailed Tits as they dash about in a tree. But if you zoom out you can get an impression of the flock moving through the twigs.


The big yew tree near the Queen's Temple has a rather battered Chicken of the Woods at the base of its trunk.

2 comments:

  1. How glad I am to hear the endearing voice of a merry band of Long-tailed Tits. More often than not I hear them before I see them.

    What would the Coots be thinking when finding the sad remains of the poor pigeon? Let us hope they don't find out that it is edible. One shudders to consider the alternative.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was a bit surprised that the Coots didn't even peck at the pigeon. One expects them to eat almost anything.

      Delete