Wednesday 26 June 2019

The Great Crested Grebes nesting on the fallen poplar on the Long Water have hatched a new chick. There may be more under the parents' wings.


The Coots nesting on a post near Peter Pan have also produced another chick. Sadly, as soon as their attention wanders it will be snatched by one of the Lesser Black-Backed Gulls that regularly perch on these posts, as happened to the previous brood.


A Moorhen in one of the Italian Garden ponds was trying to pick off a bit of iris leaf, a sign that the pair is nesting again after losing their first brood.


The Egyptian Geese with a new family at the island have done well to keep seven goslings for several days. They tend to wander off and their mother has to follow them, calling.


The Grey Heron with a broken beak seems to be a parent. Over the last few days I've often seen it on this nest on the island, from which the sound of a chick begging can sometimes be heard.


A Cormorant fishing under the mat of algae at the north end of the Long Water caught a perch, and with it a beakful of algae that it had to spit out before it could swallow the fish.


There was a sight of a Little Owl in the oak near the Albert Memorial.


A Sparrowhawk whizzed over the bridge and I got a hasty shot of it.


There was a glimpse of a Reed Warbler in the reed bed under the bridge.


A Blackbird near the Dell picked up a lot of worms in a remarkably short time before flying off to feed his nestlings. Evidently he had pulled them up previously and was simply collecting them.


There are several Feral Pigeons with Rorschach Test inkblots on their back. Maybe they are siblings.



The borage flowers in the wildflower patch behind the Lido attracted Buff-Tailed Bumblebees and Honeybees. There was also a Blue-Tailed Damselfly minding its own business on a leaf.


There are a lot of Meadow Brown butterflies. It's always the commonest species in the park, appearing later than the others.


I have no idea what this exotic fruit is. I saw it in Ansdell Street near Kensington Square.


Update: our readers always know -- thank you, Amerikano1. It's a loquat tree. I now remember that when I was little and my diplomat father was posted to Israel, we had one of these in the garden. But as soon as the fruit ripened, someone always climbed the wall and stole the lot, so I have never tasted a loquat.

4 comments:

  1. One of my favorite fruits.Very soon it will be ripe and juicy and sweet... Known as nespera, aka Brazilian Loquat or Japanese plum. Very healty aswell...

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    1. Thank you. Wonder whether it will ripen in London.

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  2. Oh that's a níspero! Very very tasty. Hope it will ripen.

    I love the look of devotion and tenderness on the Grebe parent's face.

    Is the Blackbird displaying cacheing behaviour, I wonder? They never cease to amaze.

    Kensington Gardens have the prettiest pigeons I ever saw. Speaking of which, did the Eastern European lady with the painted pigeons come back? Very recently a countryman of hers was taken into custody by the police here because he went around public beaches offering his enormous burmese python for beachgoers to take their picture with for money. The serpent was taken to a rehabilitation centre.

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    1. I saw the Blackbird fly into a tree, and I think it was simply taking food to its youngsters. The tree was a lime, impossible to see into. It's late for a nest, but it might have had several previous ones predated by Magpies, as happened to the Mistle Thrushes here.

      The painted pigeons only come here once a year on their European tour. An odd way to earn a living, but easier to travel with than a python.

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