Saturday 16 March 2019

A Blue Tit looked at one of the gas lamps beside the Serpentine. Blue Tits often nest in these lamp posts, inside the bulge in the hollow cast iron column which you can see at the bottom of the picture. There is just enough room around the gas pipe for a Blue Tit to squeeze past, but no larger bird can get in.


Another Blue Tit ate a pine nut I had given it.


A Great Spotted Woodpecker was drumming in the leaf yard. I thought I was photographing it, but this one is the female of the pair, lacking the red patch that males have on the back of the neck.


There is a Goldcrest nest in a tree near the bridge. I tried to find it, and failed. The Goldcrests were darting around several trees and I couldn't see where they were stopping.


The Mistle Thrush nest in the Dell is still in good order.


One of the young Grey Herons looked out of the nest. They see all the world go by on the shore, but so far they are comfortable and getting regular meals, and show no desire to leave. Soon they will start clambering around perilously on adjacent branches, still unable to fly but unafraid of falling.


Another heron was using the Mute Swans' artificial island as a fishing platform -- or what's left of the island, as the nesting swans have pulled it to pieces and only a third of it is left inside the ring of wooden stakes. If it is not repaired soon it will collapse. I have mentioned this several times to the park conservator.


A different pair of swans was examining a nest site on the east bank of the Long Water under the bridge. No nest here has ever succeeded. But before we feel too sorry for the swans, it's worth remembering that their numbers are climbing steadily from the four or so nests that succeed every year.


The very large Coot nest built on the bottom of the lake in a place where the water is 3 feet deep was damaged by the large waves in the recent high winds,  and bits of it are strewn around on the lake floor. The indefatigable Coots are now putting it together again.


The wind was very strong again, and a Moorhen was blown over backwards.


An Egypytian Goose turned downwind and got ruffled.


A Mandarin drake preened on a post at Peter Pan.


His mate was on the next post.


Both Peregrines were on the barracks tower, but there was only a good view of the female ...


... as the male was facing away. Considering that they are mates, it seems remarkable that they choose to sit so far apart and out of sight of each other on either side of the concrete slab.


Tom has been hand feeding the fox we saw yesterday. Caution is advised, as their canine teeth are very sharp.

6 comments:

  1. Both sexes of woodpeckers drum, so it may have been her. Jim

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  2. The Crows aren`t too happy about the fox's intrusion, it would seem. Is the fox hurt or ill? It looks healthy enough, but who knows.

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    1. It's slightly mangy around the hindquarters -- most of the foxes in the park have the mange to some extent. But otherwise it seemed OK.

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  3. Hi, will you be there tomorrow? Hope to see you soon again. Any updates on the little owls? Any indication to where the tawny owls are in st James Park?

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    1. I shall be there unless I am hit by a piano falling from an airship. I would have put anything about the Little Owls on the blog at once. I don't publish the location of the Tawny Owls on a public blog, but you can email me.

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