Saturday 7 September 2019

The Little Owl near the Albert Memorial called from the horse chestnut tree between the nest tree and Queen's Gate.


Rose-Ringed Parakeets have started eating the beans out of the pods on the catalpa tree in the Rose Garden.


The Carrion Crows have discovered that the little paper packets on the counter at the boathouse snack bar contain sugar, and sneak up and steal them when no one is looking.


A Sparrowhawk passed high over the Serpentine.


Now that we have a family of them, little circles of pigeon feathers are becoming a common sight.


Two Mistle Thrushes foraged together on Buck Hill.


With the cooler weather, there are fewer people eating out on the restaurant terraces, and fewer scraps here for the Starlings. So the flock moves to wherever people are feeding the swans and geese.


A Mute Swan chewed the bark off a broken silver birch sapling that some vandal had thrown into the lake.


Birch bark has a pleasant taste and was used in prehistoric times to make chewing gum.

Ian Young sent a picture of the single Black Swan cygnet that is still surviving in St James's Park.


This pair of Gadwalls has been in one of the Italian Garden fountains for several days. There is plenty of algae for them to eat.


Four of the gang of five teenage Mallards on the Long Water stood on the branch of the fallen willow where they used to go when they were little.


The Great Crested Grebe family from the Long Water came out on to the Serpentine to fish. They were trespassing on the territory of the pair from the west end of the island, and got chased off.


At the other end of the island, the three chicks were bustling around peacefully in the water.


A Moorhen in the Dell led two chicks through the grass.


The other chicks could be glimpsed in a clump of plants.

A Red Admiral butterfly drank nectar in the Rose Garden, slightly ruffled by the breeze.

5 comments:

  1. Sorry to bother you again, any tips for sparrow hawks?

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    1. No, they may pass over anywhere. You just have to keep an eye on the sky.

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    2. Also worth looking around for if other birds abruptly call, scatter, dive or are wheeling, or if a crow is heard making aerial attack rattle call; or it may be due to some other predatory bird. Jim

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  2. I am always amazed by how light on their feet Grebes are. They accelerate like tiny Porsches.

    What colour is the Black cygnet turning? It looks beigy. I always thought they'd turn greyer and greyer until they became black.

    Clever swan. Maybe we`ll see it chewing home-made gum in short order.

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    1. I don't think the Black cygnet is changing colour yet, though I'd have to look to be sure. You can't really tell from a photograph. When it does go black later it will be by growing black feathers to replace the original ones, as with the white feathers on white swans.

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