Three Great Spotted Woodpeckers were flying around the Parade Ground. This one stopped on a tree for long enough to be photographed. It's a male, as you can tell from the red patch on the back of his neck.
Most of the Redwings were in the trees ...
... but later a few came down to run around looking for worms, which they found efficiently.
There were also four Mistle Thrushes.
On the edge of the lake, a racing pigeon preferred to stay with the Feral Pigeons rather than continue to its loft.
I didn't get the whole of the telephone number on its ring, but will keep an eye out for this. It's not the first time a racing pigeon has turned up in the park. With the previous one I managed to trace the owner, who said that if his pigeon wouldn't come home it was of no use to him. I last saw it making advances to a female Feral Pigeon.
No one would try to race a big fat Wood Pigeon.
The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull's mate has been alone in her territory on the edge of the Serpentine for two days while the male is off on a killing spree somewhere.
The Grey Heron in the nest on the south side of the island was turning over the eggs.
A pair of Mute Swans realised it was St Valentine's Day.
A pair of Mallards often visit the little pool at the top of the Dell waterfall. The drake stood on the edge, enjoying the sensation of water running over his feet.
A dramatic close-up of a Pochard drake by Rudraksha Chodankar.
A good question for a pub quiz: Where is there a statue of Trump in the park?
It's on the Albert Memorial. Trump was the name of the artist Hogarth's dog ...
... who stands at the feet of his master in the long frieze of artists and architects around the base of the memorial.
The sculpted dog is a faithful likeness taken from Hogarth's own painting in the Tate Britain gallery. He was a pug. This is what a pug looked like in the 18th century, a normal healthy dog before breeders turned it into the poor squashed creature of today.
I saw a group of Redwings in Regent’s Park today, feeding on a boggy field
ReplyDeleteAnywhere that people don't go is fine for them, and the wetter it is, the more worms come up.
DeleteI like big fat Pigeons, actually, the fatter, the better. It must be true that birds have national or even regional accents, because our Greenfinches sound slightly different. To Spanish ears they sound as if they were saying "¿siiiiiiiiiií"?, like in miffed answer to someone.
ReplyDeleteThat two such dreadnoughts should behave like lovestruck teenagers.
What some dog breeders have done should be called a crime.
Interesting about the difference in Greenfinch calls. There's a recording of a Spanish Greenfinch here.
ReplyDelete