Thursday 9 April 2020

One of the Mistle Thrushes guarded the chicks in the nest.


A Chiffchaff sang its pleasant simple song on a tree beside the Long Water.


A Long-Tailed Tit posed obligingly on a twig.


There is a Treeceepers' nest in a dead tree near the Speke obelisk.


Two Stock Doves perched next to a Feral Pigeon, showing how much smaller they are.


The male Little Owl at Henry Moore was dazzled by the bright sunlight.


The Grey Heron chicks were moving around restlessly in the nest. Soon they will be climbing out on to the branches and making short hops as they learn to fly.


Three broods of Egyptian Geese. The first brood of three, on the Long Water, is brand new and belongs to the pair I filmed yesterday, since when the goslings have jumped down from the tree. The second view is of the lone survivor that has been clinging to life on the edge of the Serpentine for several days. The third is of the five at the Round Pond.


A Tufted drake on the Serpentine turned upside down to preen his belly.


The Mute Swan pair that made the nest at the boathouse have returned to it. There are no eggs yet.


A horrible thing. Virginia found a young swan near the bridge with a piece of jagged metal caught near the base of its beak.


She called Hugh the Wildlife Officer, and between them they managed to entice it over and catch it, and Hugh skilfully removed the metal without harming the swan. It had a string attached to it.


He said that it had been cut out from the top of a drink can to make a hook, which would be put into a piece of bread that was fed to the ducks. A duck would swallow the bread and get hooked, so that it could be caught. This is a trick practised in Eastern Europe. The corrosion on the aluminium shows that the hook had been around for some time. Both these pictures were taken by Virginia on her phone.

The sunshine brought out the Red-Eared Sliders on the Long Water to their basking place on the fallen poplar.


A Hairy-Footed Flower bee browsed on the gorse bush in the Rose Garden.


This is the bush with the Long-Tailed Tits' nest, which I check daily. Nothing could be seen in the nest, but one of the birds was moving around in the shrubbery. It's too early to expect the eggs to hatch.

Just an ordinary fly on a euphorbia flower, but it makes quite a pleasing picture.

4 comments:

  1. Do the sliders live in the park all year?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not being very good at flying, they are obliged to.

      Delete
  2. Oh my God. My stomach is turning. Thank God Virginia and Hugh were able to help the poor thing and remove the vile contrivance. I just can't.

    Does the lone gosling have a chance?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Egyptian parents are very protective. Each day brings more hope.

      Delete