Saturday 1 June 2019

I was worried that I hadn't got a picture of a young Blue Tit this year, but finally managed to get a moderate picture of one in a lime tree near the bridge.


But be careful what you wish for. A nestling had fallen out of its hole in Hyde Park and had been picked up by the staff at Bluebird Boats, who always do their best to rescue any stranded birds. The nest couldn't be found to put it back, so they are trying to look after it. It is beginning to try to fly, but not yet succeeding. For the moment it is being fed on a mash of pine nuts and water, using a pen top as a substitute for a parent's beak. More suitable food will be found soon. We hope it will soon learn to pick up food from the ground so that it doesn't have to be constantly hand fed.


A Blackcap carried an insect to feed its young.


A Magpie took a drink in the little pool at the top of the Dell waterfall, played with a flower, and enjoyed a bathe to cool down on a hot day.


At the bottom of the waterfall, a Grey Heron sunbathed on the plank that serves as a bridge.


The Great Crested Grebes in their new nest under the willow tree near the bridge have three eggs.


The Coots under the balcony of the Dell restaurant had to rebuild their enormous nest, standing in 2ft 6in of water, after it was washed away by a storm. They have been rewarded for their efforts with four chicks.


The Coots from the first nest on the posts at Peter Pan, who had three chicks and lost them, are also doggedly rebuilding. They are unlikely to succeed in this hopelessly exposed place.


The sole surviving Mute Swan cygnet on the Serpentine is showing an alarming tendency to wander off by itself. Adventurous young birds seldom last long.


The swans on the Long Water have also lost two cygnets, but the remaining one at least keeps safely close to its mother.


The flower bed to the east of the Lido is frantically busy with Honeybees and Buff-Tailed Bumblebees.


Another bumblebee gathered pollen from a wild rose.


Every year there are Red-Eyed Damselflies in the southeast pool in the Italian Garden ...


... to be followed later in the year by Small Red-Eyed Damselflies. I still haven't got a decent picture of a male Common Blue, of which there are usually plenty, but numbers seem to be down this year.

I wasn't happy with the colour of yesterday's picture of a cornflower. Here is a better one, which seems to capture its intense blue with a slight hint of violet.


Update on the rescued Blue Tit, now feeding happily on duck food made into a paste with water.

2 comments:

  1. That's a truly lovely shade of blue, for sure.

    Very happy to see that the excellent folks from Bluebird Boats are taking care of the baby Blue Tit. Glad to see the little one is eating so well (incidentally, is the girl in the update video speaking Spanish? I have heard "muy bien" distinctly, but it could be my brain playing tricks by recombining isolated sounds. In the lovely bumblebees and bees video at around the :31 seconds mark someone from either Andalusia or Extremadura is commenting on the flowers in the background).

    What a lovely spectacle, all the bees and bumblebees buzzing happily in the middle os such gorgeous flowers.

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    1. Yes, I'm sure that the girl is saying 'muy bien'. But I don't know her name. Many of the junior staff at Bluebird Boats are only there on temporary jobs, so that there is a constant drift of people.

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