A Pied Wagtail preened on the bare earth of the Parade Ground.
More than 50 Redwings were looking for worms here today.
Recently my Finnish friends Jukka Tiipana and Petteri Hautamaa visited London to photograph birds in the parks. In Finland Redwings are the commonest thrushes in summer but they migrate south in winter, and it's possible that we have some Finnish ones here. The same is true of Mistle Thrushes, but these don't all leave Finland and here is Jukka's beautiful picture of one taken soon after his return.
There was a good view of a Little Owl in the lime tree near the Henry Moore sculpture.
A pair of Stock Doves were hanging around the hole of the other pair of Little Owls near the Albert Memorial. There has always been competition for this hole. The owls have another hole they can use farther down the hill.
Two Jays waited in a holly tree to waylay people who might be carrying nuts.
A fine picture of a Treecreeper taken by Cindy Chen, a visitor from Singapore.
Two herons waited on the shore of the Serpentine. They can't deal with peanuts but can manage most other things -- once one of them ate a whole pound of sausages.
It was changeover time in the nest on the south side of the island.
Air is bubbled into the lake through hoses because people think the water isn't sufficiently oxygenated. The disturbance brings up a lot of silt as well as small edible creatures which these Black-Headed Gulls were picking out.
The usual pair of Coots have started building their usual nest on the usual post at Peter Pan for the umpteenth time. Every time chicks hatch they are eaten by gulls, but the Coots persist blindly in this hopeless venture.
The dominant male Mute Swan at the west end of the Serpentine amused himself by persecuting the others.
The triumph of hope over experience, as someone said of second marriages.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've commented yet on how enjoyable the pictures of the Redwings and the Mistle Thrushes are and have been. They are beautiful but elusive birds here.
Chiffchaffs have began to sing their cheery three-note ditty now, and I cannot get the usual Blackbird that lives under my bedroom window to stop calling like mad in the middle of the night.
Blackbirds and other birds sing in the night when kept awake by streetlamps. My local street Blackbird was singing last night, though tonight there's a storm and he's sensibly sheltering in a neglected garden.
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