From the moment they are hatched they can dive with great speed.
It was changeover time on the Great Crested Grebes' nest under the willow.
There are two pairs of Coots in the Italian Garden fountains. One pair, as we have seen, are busy nesting ...
... but the others are just sitting about in a patch of water lilies, in a very un-Cootlike way.
On the kerb of the pool a young Moorhen stretched its wings.
A Moorhen on the edge of the Serpentine had found a clump of plants to sit in.
The young Grey Heron in the Dell took off with one flap of its enormous wings.
There is a family of Reed Warblers in the reed bed by the Diana memorial fountain. One of the young ones was preening, just visible through the reeds.
It came out at the front for a moment.
One of the familiar Jays that comes to my hand is looking tatty.
Probably it has been feeding young, which is hard on the feathers -- though Carrion Crows seen to come through looking immaculate.
This is what Rose-Ringed Parakeets do to trees. A flock has descended on a small hornbeam and torn off every one of its green flowers.
A female Common Darter dragonfly perched on the spiked railings beside the Long Water.
A patch of purple loosestrife attracted Buff-Tailed and Common Carder Bumblebees and Honeybees. They didn't spend long on each of the small flowers.
Ahmet Amerikali was in Southwark Park photographing the Little Grebes' second nest, which is harder to see than the first one. The first egg has hatched, and one of them was disposing of the eggshell.
You can just see the newly hatched chick in the middle of this picture.
ReplyDeleteAlways lovely to see Little Grebes.
I know what that Coot's stare reminds me of. The T-Rex from Jurassic Park. This
cartoon may be relevant to the coot's feelings.
Very pleasing cartoon. Of course as birds got smaller horses got larger. Eohippus 40 million years ago was the size of a Labrador.
DeleteIs the hornbeam in Kensington Gardens or Hyde Park?
ReplyDeleteIt's on the path from Queen's Gate to Physical Energy, shortly after you cross the Flower Walk. There are several young hornbeam trees on the right of the path. Only one has been trashed.
DeleteThanks. I'll take a look. I ask because the trashed trees all seem to be in or adjacent to Kensington Gardens, suggesting that it's the leaf yard feeders creating flocks large enough to do such damage. Elsewhere the parakeets operate in small groups not large enough to trash a whole tree.
ReplyDeleteA while ago someone sent me a picture of a parakeet-damaged tree in the Bayswater Road, near the northwest corner of the park. There is a flyway of parakeets from KG to Holland Park just over a hundred yards to the south, roughly in line with Sheffield Terrace, but I haven't seen many parakeets in that corner of the park.
DeleteRalph- your bees are on Purple Loosestrife, not Rosebay!
ReplyDeleteGood to see another, if small, brood of Tufted Duck.
Whoops, careless of me. Thank you for pointing it out. Changed.
Delete