Friday 30 August 2019

Just time for a quick walk round the park this morning, as in the afternoon I am off to Rainham Marshes for the last late evening opening of the year. I hope to have some more pictures and video for you tonight.

There were lots of Mistle Thrushes on Buck Hill, eating the remaining fruit on the rowan trees ...


... and wandering around in the grass looking for insects and worms.


A Feral Pigeon enjoyed a sunny interval.


They like to gather for a communal bath on the fallen kerbstones in front of the statue of Peter Pan.


There are still some House Martins over the lake.


The younger Great Crested Grebe family on the Long Water were in a group near the bridge.


The chicks are remarkably quiet, probably because there are so many small fish in the lake at the moment that they are being fed all they can eat.

One of the older chicks was fishing by itself at the Vista.


It was also feeding time for the family from the east end of the island.


Ahmet got a fine picture of a Cormorant eating a perch.


The young Mute Swan on the Serpentine stretched a wing now equipped with brand new flight feathers.


I haven't seen it trying to fly yet. They have to learn how to balance, and sometimes crash ignominiously into the water.

Blondie the Egyptian Goose was drinking at the east end of the Serpentine. She seldom strays more than 200 yards from the reed bed where she was hatched, immediately noticeable as a very pale little gosling. She once flew to the Round Pond, disliked it, and came back to her familiar place.


The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull was choosing his breakfast a few yards away. The lost feathers on his face, possibly caused by an encounter with a crayfish, have been replaced and he is looking as smart as ever.

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