Thursday 30 May 2019

A Great Tit sunbathed in the Dell. They always look as if they had crashed, but actually the bird is perfectly all right and just trying to get the insects out of its feathers.


A young Long-Tailed Tit waited for food on a twig near the Italian Garden.


A young Starling clamoured to be fed at the Lido restaurant.


A female Blackbird in a freshly dug flower bed in the Rose Garden collected as many worms as she could carry before flying off to her nest.


A Pied Wagtail hunted insects under a parked bicycle.


The male Reed Bunting perched on a stem in the reed bed near the Diana memorial.


A young Magpie pestered a parent for food. Two slightly older ones foraged for themselves side by side.


The Great Crested Grebes under the willow near the bridge have built a third nest, this time at the edge of the tree. They can be seen only from the other side of the bridge.


The second Coot nest on the posts at Peter Pan has been considerably built up. It's a shame that these carefully built structures won't lead to breeding success. The gulls are waiting.


A Gadwall drake showed off his beautifully vermiculated feathers on another post.


The Mute Swan with one cygnet was also at Peter Pan.


A family of Greylag Geese grazed peacefully beside the Serpentine until an irresponsible dog owner passed with his pets off the lead, and they had to retreat hastily to the water.


A closer look at one of the goslings.


A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee drank nectar from a purple flower.


There are plenty of female Common Blue Damselflies in the grass around the leaf yard, but for some reason I can find very few males. They are much more visible than females, being bright blue, so they ought to be unmissable.


A single poppy dispelled the heavy gloom of the Henry Moore sculpture.


The accidental roses that spring up in the shrubberies are very varied, but all more beautiful than the huge cabbage-like cultivars in the Rose Garden.


A picture by Tom from yesterday's visit to Rainham: a close-up of a Common Lizard.

7 comments:

  1. Ralph, do you remember the cygnets born last year that had angel wing? I dont see them around anymore, in fact I believe they must have taken them to a sanctuary early on?

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  2. No one tells you about these things, but I think they have been quietly killed.

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  3. Ah that’s sad they didnt deserve either fate:/

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  4. But why? Were they euthanised because their life quality would be dismal? Is that a common practice? That is distressing.

    Thank God though the dramatic picture of the sunbathing Great Tit, the Gosling cutie, and the antics of the pestering young Magpie are enough to bring a smile to anyone's face. Ralph's blog ought to be considered a public health service.

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    1. Well, as I said, I don't know what happened. But they disappeared simultaneously. Their struggles to fly were painful to watch. I think they were 'tidied up' to make the park look nicer.

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    2. In somber moments I begin to fear that we will reach a point where every living thing that is not picture-perfect will be on the fast track to euthanasia.

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    3. I daily await the arrival of the knackers' van at my door.

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