Wednesday 1 April 2020

A Great Spotted Woodpecker in the Diana fountain enclosure probed a tree for insects. Normally there would be people around the fountain, and this shy bird would avoid it.


A Grey Wagtail ran up the shore beside the Lido restaurant terrace, where large planters conceal birds from the public gaze.


There were also two Pied Wagtails here, so here is a close-up of one of them ...


... but not as close as this interesting shot by David Element of a Robin that has become so tame that it completely ignores people pointing cameras at it.


A Long-Tailed Tit stared confidently from a twig. Humans are of no concern to them.


A female Blackbird in a flower bed near the Lido got two worms in quick succession.


A Wood Pigeon drank at the top of the Dell waterfall.


The male Little Owl near the Henry Moore sculpture was out on a twig. If he looks a bit cross it's because a tree was being felled a few yards away with a deafening noise of chainsaws and bark chippers which must have hurt his sensitive ears.


The Grey Heron chicks were standing up in the nest. Although still quite small, they look almost like adults.


The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull and his mate had just shared a pigeon. She washed the blood off her face.


A Great Crested Grebe on the Serpentine was looking particularly fine.


A pair of Moorhens pulled an abandoned Coot nest to pieces, I think just out of restlessness as they couldn't have used these large twigs in a nest of their own.


The Zoroastrian New Year festival of Nowruz has come and gone, and a Mute Swan was eating a clump of sprouted wheat that had ritually been thrown into the lake.


Sadly but predictably, the Egyptian Geese are down to two goslings. The first brood on the other side of the lake has completely gone.


The inseparable dark Mallard brothers rested side by side.

4 comments:

  1. The Little Owl's expression is so human-like. I think it must be the most humanoid of birds.

    There is something gleefully purposeful about the way the Moorhen is dismantling that nest.

    Splendid close ups of the Wagtail and the Robin!

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    1. Yes, Little Owls do have very human-like eyes and eyebrows, and it is possible to convey a multitude of expressions with them alone. (As with Gromit the dog in the Aardman cartoons, where the eyebrows are the only bit of his face that moves.)

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  2. Enjoyed the Grey Wagtail-always a pleasure to see this species. Last year I was so excited to see a pair had bred successfully on my local patch.

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    1. We usually have a pair nesting beside the waterfall in the Dell.

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