Tuesday 16 April 2019

A Wren sang loudly from a branch beside the Long Water.


So did a Blackcap, but there was too much background noise for a recording.


A female Dunnock sat on a twig at the Lido while her mate serenaded her from inside a bush.


A Blackbird was collecting worms and insects to feed his young near the Italian Garden.


A Mistle Thrush near the Serpentine Gallery was also searching.


The little pool at the top of the Dell waterfall is a favourite drinking place for birds and squirrels.


One of the young Grey Herons was fishing, or trying to fish.


Another was in the nest. But the third, sadly, was lying dead at the edge of the island. There was also a dead Greylag Goose on the shore. Neither of the bodies seemed mangled as if a fox had swum across and got them.

The Egyptian families are down to three goslings, another three, and just one.


A Mute Swan is nesting on the southwest corner of the island.


There is also a nest on the opposite corner, and presumably one in the middle out of sight behind the bushes, as there is every year. Three nests seems to be the maximum that swans' territorial instincts will allow on this fairly spacious island.

The Coots on the nest near the bridge have five eggs.


Another Coot hauled a fair-sized branch across the lake and under the bridge to a nest somewhere on the Long Water.


The one at the Dell restaurant, having nothing better to do, fussed about how to arrange a leaf on the nest.


It's just possible to see the head of the Moorhen in the nest in the hawthorn tree on the restaurant terrace. They have lost one chick, which fell out of the nest prematurely, but they are still nesting so evidently there are more.


The last few seconds in the life of a caterpillar. I can't identify the species of this rather nondescript creature.


Tom was at Blue House Farm in Essex, where he got a fine picture of an Avocet on her nest with eggs.

2 comments:

  1. Lovely picture of the Avocet! Such a dainty, elegant bird.

    Poor Heron :-( Poor young thing. There must be a heaven for birds. There must be. Otherwise it is all waste and senselessness.

    I ought to fear sorry for the caterpillar, and I kind of am, but then again it reminded me of the bird scene in A Bug's Life:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S50oirJzrOI

    How can something so cute be so terrifying?

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    Replies
    1. The bird scene in A Bug's Life is funny because it attributes human emotions to the insects, so that the episode becomes a tragedy in the strict sense of the word; and farce is tragedy played at double speed.

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