Wednesday 29 May 2019

Just time for a quick walk around the park this morning. The usual Blackbird was waiting for me to give him some sultanas.


Another lamp post has a Blue Tit nest in it, this one on the south shore of the Serpentine.


A young Pied Wagtail called plaintively from the roof of the Dell restaurant.


A pair of Carrion Crows sat fondly side by side on a notice.


Gardeners in the Rose Garden are removing the spring herbaceous border plants to replace them with the summer ones, and the disturbed earth attracts birds. A Blackbird was the most successful.


It's musical chairs under the willow near the bridge. After the Mute Swans occupied the Coots' nest, now a Moorhen has taken the Great Crested Grebes' nest.


Then off to Rainham Marshes.

There were four Avocets in front of the Shooting Butts hide.


One of them had four chicks, of which you can see two here


The other Avocets landed in front of two preening Shelducks.


A Redshank poked around in the mud.


Lapwings whirled about.


They joined a couple of Redshanks to harass a Cattle Egret.


There were two families of Shovellers.


No visit to Rainham would be complete without a Little Grebe.


A female Reed Bunting perched on a wire fence.


Two Goldfinches picked up grit on the path.


Other creatures included some Common Lizards ...


... several Marsh Frogs ...


... many Drinker Moth caterpillars on the boardwalks ...


... and a bug, Coreus marginatus, often called a Dock Bug. Thanks to Conehead54 for identifying it.

4 comments:

  1. Very productive visit to Rainham marshes. I love looking at Avocets - they may be the most graceful of all waders. Very lovely to see a Lapwing, as they are all gone now, and I miss them.

    Great to see the Little Grebe almost posing. It must be really hard to catch it between dives, judging by how difficult it is to follow them with mere binoculars.

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    1. Little Grebes do sometimes stop their constant diving and do absolutely nothing for a long time in true grebe style.

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  2. Hi Ralph- have been away since end of May + just catching up with your posts. The bug is a shield bug relative- Coreus marginatus, often called a Dock Bug.

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    1. Thanks for the identification. Have put it in the blog. Better late than never.

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