Wednesday 19 February 2020

A Goldcrest ...


... and a Coal Tit appeared in quick succession on the path near Peter Pan.


On the other side, the local Robin was expecting its daily treat of pine nuts put on the gatepost.


A Wood Pigeon ate fresh daisy leaves ...


... and another picked off small leaf buds.


The new turf being laid on the Parade Ground is now encroaching on the Redwings' and Mistle Thrushes' favourite feeding ground of bare earth, but they are still catching plenty of worms. Soon the worms will surface through the turf and the birds will find them easily enough. Last year the Redwings stayed till 15 March, when the ground was completely covered.


There was a view of a Little Owl in the lime tree near the Henry Moore sculpture.


A Carrion Crow bathed in the Serpentine.


The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull was also washing ...


... then he took off and flew round the lake looking for his lunch.


There was enough wind to encourage a group of Mute Swans into the air. A headwind reduces the effort of hauling themselves into the air.


A pair started making a nest in a thoroughly unsuitable place next to the terrace of the Lido restaurant, a few feet away from a table. There are so few available nest sites on a lake overcrowded with swans that they get desperate.


The usual Grey Heron was sitting in the nest on the south side of the island. But there was activity in the nest next door, with a heron picking twigs to build it up.

2 comments:

  1. Poor things. It'd be perhaps a kindness to remove that nest before eggs are laid.

    Is the Coal Tit looking at you? It looks so very huggable.

    Where do British Redwings go when they return to their breeding grounds? Ours spend only a couple of months in Spain and go back to Scandinavia.

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  2. I don't think that nest will get very far. They've tried here before.

    The Coal Tit is certainly looking at me. My new camera has a white lens, which is pretty but a bit bright. May have to get a camouflage sleeve for it.

    The Finns who were here recently told me that the Redwing is the commonest thrush in Finland in the summer.

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