So did a Blue Tit ...
... and three Jays.
A Wood Pigeon watched the proceedings from the other side of the path.
A Robin stared seriously from a bush beside the Long Water.
The male Little Owl near the Henry Moore sculpture was in his usual place in front of the hole in the lime tree.
The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull was in his favourite place on the Dell restaurant roof.
Oblivious of its peril, a Feral Pigeon sat in the lake.
A Great Crested Grebe was already back in breeding plumage.
One of the Moorhens in the Dell was making a nest on the rock in the stream, but only in a desultory way.
Two Shovellers fed on the Round Pond, briefly interrupted by a Coot swimming oafishly between them.
A Mute Swan enjoyed a long and vigorous wash, followed by a good flap to settle its wing feathers. It took over five minutes, and I am only showing you the more furious bits.
The Black Swan arrived looking hopeful. I gave it some sunflower seeds.
There are quite a lot of Gadwalls on the Round Pond.
Some Redwings were feeding in in the rowan trees near Euston Station and I went to photograph them, but they stayed in the tops of the trees and by then the day had clouded over, so I didn't get good pictures.
Back in the park as it was getting dark, a solitary Mistle Thrush hopped around in the grass near Kensington Palace.
Just heard that the Danish gull shown on yesterday's blog is male and was ringed by Kjeld Tommy Pedersen on the lake in front of Frederiksborg Castle on 18 November 2018 when it was one year old. Yesterday was the first time it has been recorded since then.
Quite a long trip for a not so large gull.
ReplyDeleteIs the swan turning cartwheels? They seem to do almost everything at full throttle just because they can.
That Coot clearly meant to make itself into a nuisance.
Some of our gulls come from Finland and Russia, while others breed just the other side of London on the Pitsea landfill site, so decoding a ring can be exciting or disappointing.
DeleteSwans seem to hurl themselves upside down as part of their washing routine, though this one was doing it more often than usual. Geese do it too, less spectacularly.
Ralph I'm pretty sure your Shovelers are both 1st winter males, though surprised they seem tardy in getting more adult like plumage.
ReplyDeleteVery likely, though the immature drakes on the Long Water are much more obvious.
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