Friday 1 November 2019

A Great Spotted Woodpecker probed the bark of a tree on the east side the Long Water, looking for insects.


There was just one Mistle Thrush here.


Although a fair number of autumn migrant thrushes turned up, they seem to have moved somewhere else. They will be back after the Winter Wasteland closes in January to haul worms out of the devastated Parade Ground before the turf is relaid.

Starlings were looking expectant on the railings below. They have only recently started coming here for people to feed them, but they have seen Rose-Ringed Parakeets being fed here and have quickly latched on to the idea.


A Carrion Crow and a Black-Headed Gull chased each other alternately over the Serpentine.


The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull was on the prowl in his usual place near the Dell restaurant. A close-up shows the ring of black dots on the iris of his eye by which he may be recognised.


The three young Great Crested Grebes from the island are now old enough to fish for themselves, and there are plenty of fish under the moored pedalos for them to hone their hunting skills. But that doesn't stop them from begging when their parents are around.


Moorhens can't resist climbing and balancing, and it seems quite natural to them to have a preening session while balanced on a chain.


One of the young Mute Swans adopted a threatening attitude on the edge of the Serpentine.


I couldn't see what had set it off, and there were no dogs in sight. It wasn't threatening me, because it was already doing it when I arrived. Perhaps it was just practising being grown-up.

The marble fountain in the Italian Garden is out of order again, and the hopeless pair of Egyptians took the opportunity to eat the rich growth of algae.


One of the young Egyptians from the family near the island lay gormlessly in the middle of the road, dangerously close in colour to the dead leaves on the tarmac. So far they have avoided being run over.


A story from Regent's Park. A juvenile Red-Throated Diver turned up on the lake, a most unusual visitor to central London and clearly lost. Yesterday morning Tom went to photograph it, and these are his pictures.


Not long after he arrived, it got its head stuck in the barrier that is supposed to keep the captive wildfowl collection from going out on to the main lake.


Luckily Tony Duckett was on hand to rescue it.


But he found that it was severely emaciated and very weak, so it has been put in the pen in the park where birds are put to breed or be looked after. Hugh Smith the Wildlife Officer just happened to have a stock of fish that had got trapped in a pipe in St James's Park and he had prudently frozen, and he brought these to feed the diver. The word today is that it's already stronger. When it's recovered, they will take it to Norfolk and release it.

Hugh had just rescued a Woodcock that had come down in Piccadilly Circus, of all places, and had been taken into care at the Caffè Concerto. He collected it in a cake box. He is sending a picture, which I will put up when it comes in.

11 comments:

  1. Do you know how long the red throated diver will be there and is this a place that the public can go to take photos?

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    1. They're aiming to keep it for another week. At the moment it's in a private pen with a bit of water to keep it happy. If it continues to recover it will be let out into the small pool behind the public lavatories next to the two small bridges. This is visible from the path but at a low angle, and without going there I don't know how well a low slung bird like a diver will show up.

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  2. Wonder if the woodcock is the same bird that was seen at Wembley Stadium last Sunday?

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    1. If it is, it's certainly been seeing the London sights.

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    2. maybe it's using an oyster catcher card

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  3. Interesting to hear the full story of the diver as Londonbirders only mentioned it was taken into care. Hopefully should make a full recovery. It's amazing what turns up in Regent's Park- I'm sure there was an unlikely Cory's Shearwater a couple of years back!

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    1. Yes, I remember hearing about the shearwater.

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  4. Poor thing, thank God it was rescued and is now on the mend. It looks very miserable.

    Pigeon Killer is such a handsome specimen. I wonder how old it is.

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    1. The pigeon killer is at least 14, as he was a full adult when I first started observing him 10 years ago. But that's not half way through a gull's normal lifespan.

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    2. Bit scary. I wager that by when he reaches 20 he's going to have learned to take on small dogs!

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    3. He's restrained by not having talons.

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