Sunday 29 September 2019

The shrubbery on the west side of the Long Water next to the bridge is now a better place to feed the small birds than the leaf yard, which has been much affected by the indiscriminate feeding of parakeets.

There are plenty of Great Tits ...


... and Blue Tits ...


... a pair of Coal Tits of which only the female will come to the hand of people she trusts ...


... and a Robin, again one of a pair which have now split up for the winter and are singing against each other.


On the ground below, here is the mate of the female Chaffinch I videoed yesterday. He's in the subdued colours of his winter plumage, but still quite bright.


Here she is for comparison.


On the other side of the lake a Goldcrest could be seen in a yew tree just north of the Henry Moore sculpture.


Jackdaws, which returned to Kensington Gardens only about five years ago, have been slowly expanding their territory and can now be found all along the south shore of the Serpentine.


It's curious that pairs of Feral Pigeons tend to resemble each other in colour and markings. They seem to consciously choose mates that look like themselves.


The oldest two of this year's Great Crested Grebes are now independent. They will have traces of their juvenile stripes till next year.


The small chick from the west end of the island was in the middle of the lake by itself.


That would be extremely dangerous for a duckling, but even the youngest grebes can dive in a flash if a gull comes overhead.

Coots on the Long Water passed the time by having a fight.


A female Buff-Tailed Bumblebee worked her way over a patch of salvia till her pollen bags were full almost to bursting.

7 comments:

  1. Ralph, I came across this old film of Hyde Park on BBC iPlayer.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00rzvww/man-alive-hyde-park

    Thought that you might be interested in the section at 32.15 where a rather beautiful and eccentric lady brings her orphaned duck down to the Serpentine for a daily swim.

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    1. Thanks for the link. Can't watch it myself as you need a television licence to watch iPlayer these days and I don't have one, or a television, but will recommend it to British-based blog readers.

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    2. It's also easy to find on YouTube. Jim

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  2. It is interesting to see that in those days unguarded food was eaten by sparrows not starlings. I was wondering why there are no sailing boats nowadays until one broached and tipped everyone into the lake.

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  3. Glad to see the Bumblebee happily going about her business. Hardy little thing.

    Are those chaffinches afflicted by the disease that is wiping them out? I may have been too sanguine in yesterday's entry.

    By the way, I may have found a store that may make Grebe slippers finally:

    https://cuddleclones.com/product/plush-slippers/

    The prices are insanely high though. Who would pay $200 for a pair of plush slippers?

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    1. I fear that all the Chaffinches in the park get that disease eventually. It's spread simply by footprints and there is no way of stopping it.

      Those slippers are alarmingly realistic, as well as alarmingly expensive. They are obviously made with great care, so I suppose you get what you pay for.

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