A Goldcrest was dashing around in the yew tree in the leaf yard, never staying still for a second. I unexpectedly struck lucky with just one shot.
The Robin near the bridge came out to be fed.
A Blue Tit waited impatiently for me to finish photographing and give it some food.
So did a Jay.
A Blackbird stood on a rock in the Dell.
A Wood Pigeon drank from the pool at the top of the waterfall.
A squabble between two Feral Pigeons eating birdseed spilt from the hanging feeder in the Rose Garden. One chased the other off and returned victorious to finish its meal.
The Mute Swans on the Long Water have cleared out all intruders including the bold teenage swan, and now have the place to themselves. They were at Peter Pan with their own teenager, touting for food.
A visit to the Round Pond found the Black Swan cropping algae off the edge.
There are now quite a few Common Gulls here. They always arrive late.
The Cormorants have almost emptied the Italian Garden fountain pools, but there are still a few small fish left. They come up with a lot of weed which the Cormorant has to separate and spit out.
A pair of Gadwalls ignored them and went on quietly feeding.
Most of the Great Crested Grebes have left, but there is still at least one teenager from the nest in the fallen poplar on the Long Water. Its wings are well developed and it can leave with the remaining adults if frosty weather threatens, and fly to the upper Thames which remains ice-free.
Ahmet Amerikali got a distant shot of a Little Grebe by the reed bed east of the Lido, the first sighting of a Little Grebe in the park for several months.
He also got a fine picture of a Cormorant trying unsuccessfully to climb on to a post.
I always thought that self-circling dance pigeons do was for wooing, but here it seems to be deployed in fighting, as well?
ReplyDeleteAs with Black-Headed Gulls, and indeed other species, courtship and rivalry use similar moves.
DeleteWhoever hit on the dove as a symbol for peace was out of its mind (I wouldn't be surprised if it should have been Picasso himself, who in any case always opined that if reality disagreed with his opinions, so much the worse for reality).
ReplyDeleteGlad to see the Little Grebe! They have been missed.
Never tire of seeing pictures of Goldcrests. Getting one to sit still for a split second is something of a miracle.
I suppose the idea of the dove of peace goes back to Noah, so it's a bit late to try to correct the error. As for Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso, as we should properly call him, he was wrong about so many things, including the number of noses usually found on a human face.
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