Wednesday 4 September 2019

Moorhens with chicks often build extra nests where they and the family can rest. The Moorhens in the Dell had just made one of these nests on a rock, and one parent was starting a second nest on a submerged branch in the stream.


A Moorhen at Peter Pan went into a threatening posture when some Mallards got too close to its chick.


The Great Crested Grebe from the new nest on the fallen poplar in the Long Water has at least two chicks, here indistinctly seen here from across the lake.


The three chicks at the island now spend most of their time in the water. They never move from this spot, so there is no need for their parents to carry them.


The two chicks at the bridge were being fed with all the fish they could eat.


I met Steve Barnes the policeman, who told me that Sparrowhawks had bred in a sweet chestnut tree near the Old Police House. The chicks are fledged now, and I hope to see the family together soon.


They had killed a pigeon near the Rose Garden.


A Carrion Crow at the Dell restaurant examined a lemon and decided not to eat it.


A Blackbird ate blackberries in a bramble patch beside the Long Water.


A flock of Mistle Thrushes searched for insects in the rough grass on Buck Hill.


A sunny afternoon brought out plenty of Honeybees in the wildflower patch behind the Lido.


Two pictures by Mark Williams from St James's Park, where they have had a better year for butterflies and moths than we did: a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly ...


... and a Box-Tree moth. This is an accidental introduction from Southeast Asia, first seen in Kent in 2007 and now well established. The larva can eat all the leaves off an ornamental box hedge, and the species is considered a pest. But it's very pretty.

6 comments:

  1. I don’t blame the crow; I don’t think I would have liked to eat the lemon

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    1. It would be interesting to see if a Wood Pigeon, that all-engulfing flying dustbin, was willing to eat a wedge of lemon.

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  2. Delighted to see Moorhens appear to have discovered the notion of holiday homes.

    I don't like too much the expression of that Sparrowhawk looking at the House Martin.

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    1. The House Martin simply changed course and was away in a moment. Not sure that the Sparrowhawk, a creature able to bring down a pigeon, would have bothered with such a light snack anyway.

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  3. Interesting photo of the Sparrowhawk + House Martin in the same frame. Not quite sure if the sparrowhawk is going for it?

    I occasionally see the Box Moth in my garden, but as I don't have any Box in my garden, I can just enjoy it. At a mothing survey at Perivale last weekend it was the second most common moth in the traps after Square-spot Rustic.

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    1. I think the paths of the House Martin and the Sparrowhawk just crossed by accident, though it was careless of the former. Anyway, no chase ensued.

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