... and the male near the Albert Memorial looked out of his hole as the afternoon light was fading.
After the recent heavy rain parts of the park are still swampy, but morning sunshine helped to dry things out. A Dunnock foraged in dead leaves in the leaf yard.
Above it, the very shy Coal Tit looked out nervously from a yew tree.
As soon as I filled the bird feeder in the Rose Garden there was a steady stream of Great Tits, Blue Tits and Coal Tits.
A Robin perched on a bramble beside the Long Water.
A Wren poked in floating dead leaves on the edge of the Serpentine.
A Carrion Crow admired its reflection in the little stream in the Dell.
A pair of Magpies explored leaves on the grassy bank at the back of the Lido swimming area, a place that is ...
... not my idea of fun in December.
Two Grey Herons surveyed the scene from the electric boats moored at the island.
The three young Moorhens in the Italian Garden were in their favourite patch of dead iris leaves.
A flight of Shovellers sped up the Long Water.
Other parts of the country are seriously flooded. A picture from my brother in law Peter in Dorset of some Mute Swans cruising over what's supposed to be a field.
If it were the Orthodox Epiphany day (Jan 19th) today I'd say it was a pair of homesick Russians taking a dip in cold waters to celebrate, but I don't think that's the case here. Here is Putin showing how it's done:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tqkp2G0Q9Ac
There's a Serpentine swimming club whose members swim in the lake every day in the early morning, and sometimes their wet footprints on the path freeze behind them. They have a mass swim on the morning of New Year's Day, hoping for ice to show how tough they are. It's a macho thing, what can one say?
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