Friday 20 March 2020

Work on the lining of the Long-Tailed Tits' nest in the Rose Garden has slowed down and it must be nearly complete. But both birds were still occasionally bringing feathers.


The Great Spotted Woodpeckers can easily shoo away the invasive Rose-Ringed Parakeets when they come down to take sunflower seeds from the feeder.


A fine picture by Tom of a Wren, also in the Rose Garden.


A Blue Tit near the Henry Moore statue waited patiently while I photographed it before it came to my hand for a pine nut.


We haven't had a picture of a Blackbird for a while, so here's one at the Lido.


The Diana memorial fountain has been turned off. A Pied Wagtail looked for insects in the little pools of water left on its irregular granite surface.


The Italian Garden fountains are also off. Probably this is part of the panic that has paralysed the entire western world.

The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull and his mate were having a little display together, walking around and giving little upward nods.


There was a brisk easterly wind blowing under the bridge on to the normally calm Long Water, where a pair of Great Crested Grebes rocked in the waves as they rested side by side.


A pair of Coots building a nest in the reeds had brought a yellow football to decorate it. Or possibly they had chosen a site near the football because they liked it.


Work continues on the Coots' nest at the Dell restaurant.


The irises in the Italian Garden are regrowing, and the resident Moorhens now have a place to shelter.


The gardeners are planting pretty Snakeshead Fritillaries in the woodland on the east side of the Long Water.


Mario drew my attention to an unusual fungus under a cedar near the Albert Memorial, a Cedar Cup (Geopora sumneriana). It's only a little one the size of a thumbnail ...


... but here is Mario's own picture of a bigger one in Battersea Park.


The air ambulance was very busy today and shot over my head so low that you could smell the jet fuel before doing a one-minute pickup on Buck Hill. It only handles the most acute emergencies, mostly victims of road accidents but increasingly the victims of stabbings.


Sad news from Joan Chatterley in St James's Park: all the Black cygnets are gone, evidently killed by the big bullying male Mute Swan. Here he is chasing the parents.


Update: better news. The last two Black cygnets in St James's Park have been rescued by Hugh and have joined the previously rescued one in a refuge.

6 comments:

  1. Now that the cafes and restaurants have closed there will be less food about for starlings, crows, herons and magpies. It will be interesting to see how the birds cope.

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    1. They will have to rely on honest food like worms. I think they'll cope.

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  2. Urban birds in Spain are coping badly. House Sparrows are leaving in droves to rural areas to join the flocks of Spanish Sparrows there. Blackbirds have stopped singing and I can't see them Magpies any longer from my window. I hope they too have left for the fields.

    Thank God for the daily miracle of the Long Tailed Tits's nest.

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    1. Our Blackbirds should be all right. They are not dependent on people (though they don't say no to raisins).

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  3. Felicity Miller21 March 2020 at 13:08

    Thank you so much for these daily blogs, Ralph. They offer much-needed distraction and sanity.

    ReplyDelete