The Long-Tailed Tits' nest in the broom bush in the Rose Garden was deserted but undamaged.
It looks as if the young birds have fledged. A family of Long-Tailed Tits could be seen high in a big Japanese maple in the Dell nearby, with their parents feeding them. They were too hidden in the leaves for a picture, but I did get one of an adult coming out in front of a yew tree.
There was also a Wren in the maple.
The lamp post near the South Carriage Drive was busy with Blue Tits bringing caterpillars to their chicks.
A Great Tit clung to a brick. I think it was pecking out bits of mortar, as grit or as a source of calcium.
Four Reed Warblers were singing in the reed bed by the Diana fountain.
The Little Owl in the aspen was hard to see today, and this is the best picture I could get.
Stock Doves mated above the Little Owls' hole in the oak near the Albert Memorial. They are definitely nesting here.
A young Herring Gull basked on the sun-warmed granite kerb of the Dell restaurant terrace.
The injured Heron was fishing in the stream in the Dell.
There was a new brood of ten Egyptian goslings on the Serpentine.
Egyptian Geese are amazingly prolific, and it's not surprising that the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic for 'son', sa, is a picture of one. This says sa Re, 'son of the Sun', an honorific title of pharaohs.
The lone surviving gosling is growing its first ginger feathers.
The dominant Mute Swans on the Long Water were building up their nest in the reeds.
The Black Swan passed the water level indicator on the Serpentine.
Normally the water comes up to the top of the white band, and it has fallen several inches since the marble fountain in the Italian Garden was turned off, through evaporation and minor leaks. No water is passing through the lake at all -- the Dell waterfall which appears to be the outflow is actually a closed system driven by an electric pump.
Is there any danger of weed overgrowth, or botulism, or lack of oxygen in the water?
ReplyDeleteHeh. You just try to outsmart a Starling.
Wow, Long Tailed Tits fledge so fast! They are such teeny tiny things everything must go very fast for them.
Glad to see the injured Heron and the lone gosling are clinging to life, even against most odds.
I'm guessing that there might be an extra danger of botulism in the exposed algae as the water falls.
DeleteVery much hoping to get pictures and if possible video of young Long-Tailed Tits. Once you find them they are easier than adults, because they stay on a twig waiting to be fed.
Crossing all my fingers and my toes!
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