Saturday 25 January 2020

There were two Grey Herons in the nest on the south side of the island, displaying to each other.


A Mute Swan toiled up the slope at the back of the Lido to join his mate, and they too had a little display.


Another pair courted near the Dell restaurant, safe from interference by the Serpentine bully ...


... who was throwing his weight about at the other end of the lake.


You can tell a female Gadwall from a female Mallard by the colour of the little white square where its secondary feathers show when its wings are loosely folded. In a Gadwall it's white, in a Mallard it's iridescent dark blue.


A Moorhen ate algae off a post at the Vista.


Also at the Dell restaurant, it looks as if the Coots have started rebuilding their nest under the balcony. This doesn't look like much, but it's the top of a tower of sunken twigs and branches well over 2ft high, and just getting the top level with the water is an achievement.


Probably a certain amount of last year's nest was still in place, as some of the branches were so huge that you could hardly believe a Coot could move them. I waited for a while to see if the Coots would return to carry on the work, which would have made a better picture, but they were away somewhere else.

A Carrion Crow called loudly from an umbrella on the terrace.


A pair of Magpies at the Lido were clearly fond of each other.


One of the Jays near the bridge was waiting for the usual peanut.


Just one Little Owl today, the female near the Henry Moore sculpture.


A Robin sang on a bush in the Rose Garden.


Another stared seriously from a bush beside the Long Water,


Seen in Kensington Gardens: I don't know what you call this, but he's good at it.

2 comments:

  1. I think it's called "slacklining". I recall watching Madonna's Superbowl show and my jaw dropping at the sight of slackliner Andy Lewis's incredible stunts:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gOcm5HmOTg

    Swans are really awful walkers. It must love its make very much to go to all that effort to be together. Love to see that they will court and display on land as well. To think that such bullies are actually so affectionate with eath other.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks. What a remarkable performance. I had never seen anyone do more than trying to walk on a slack line before, with less success than that swan.

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