Friday 29 March 2019

A brand-new brood of seven Egyptian goslings attracted unwelcome attention from a bad-tempered Mute Swan.


All the young Grey Herons had climbed out of their nest and were in a neighbouring tree.


The new nest next door to theirs had two adults in it. It looks as if they mean business.


A Coot brought a leaf to its mate in the nest next to the bright orange buoy whose fascinating colour made them build in this awkward spot.


Out on the lake, fighting went on as usual.


This picture shows a pair of Great Crested Grebes in which it's easy to tell the female from the male. She is on the left, slimmer and with a noticeably narrower head and crest. But in some pairs it's hard to tell the sexes apart.


At the Lido, a female Mandarin, temporarily unbothered by flashy drakes, went about her own quiet business.


The Mute Swans have repossessed the little island in the Long Water from the Canada Geese squatting there. An ejected goose egg has sadly floated over to the other side of the lake to lodge in a reed bed.


A Grey Heron found nothing edible at the small waterfall at the bottom of the Dell, and flew up to the pool at the top.


It was annoyed when a Magpie found a bit of bread that it had missed.


The Little Owl near the Henry Moore sculpture came out on a branch.


Starlings thronged the Lido restaurant, where there is leftover food as well as tasty insects eating it.


A Robin perched on a twig on Buck Hill.


A Long-Tailed Tit in the Dell stared imperiously at the camera.


A Great Tit foraged under the bushes near the bridge.


The shy Coal Tit in the leaf yard waited for a chance to take a seed off the railings without being shoved out of the way by bigger birds.


A Jackdaw was also waiting for food, clinging to the bark of the big oak tree.


A Carrion Crow posed on the fence in front of a reed bed.

2 comments:

  1. Why so much nastiness? The poor Goslings are harmless, and they aren't even competing for food. Granted, the parents may be annoying, but take it out on them, not the babies!

    I never thought I'd see an imperious Long-Tailed Tits. Doubtless they'll have their personalities like we do.

    It is an urgent matter that Coots be the subject of a professional study. Biologists are missing on such a great opportunity.

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    Replies
    1. Swans just pointlessly peck everything smaller than them, and some things larger than them, such as humans.

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