Thursday 14 May 2020

A Treecreeper was collecting insects to feed its young in a nest that I couldn't find. They are such unobtrusive little birds that you only catch glimpses of them.


A Blue Tit raised its little crest in impatience because I was photographing it instead of feeding it at once.


Jon Spoard got a fine picture of a Goldcrest carrying a bit of spider web to add to its nest.


A Greenfinch sang from a treetop near the Queen's Temple.


There were plenty of Swifts over the Serpentine.


Both a young Pied Wagtail ...


... and its mother were hunting insects in the rubber mat on the jetty at the Lido.


The mat is a little ecosystem of its own. Egyptian Geese like to stand there to get away from dogs. Their droppings attract insects, which cluster between the ribs of the mat. Wagtails come to eat the insects.

This Carrion Crow is always waiting for me, looking expectant, when I pass the Lido restaurant terrace.


Two crows enjoyed the sun-warmed stone base of the menhir in the Dell.


A crow found a bag of cheese and onion crisps in a waste bin, extracted the last morsels, and went back to the bin to find something else.


The Mute Swan nesting near the Lido moved off her nest to find some twigs, leaving the eggs partly exposed (there are six). She didn't seem to mind when a crow started poking around in the nest looking for insects, but the crow jumped away as soon as she stood up.


A pair of swans have just started making a nest on the Serpentine island. They can't get into the central enclosure because the gate is shut to protect the newly made pool and the reeds planted around it, so they are having to make do with the edge. It's a good safe site.


In the water in front of them, the ugly faced golden koi appeared. We haven't seen it for several years. Presumably its owner dumped it in the lake because he didn't like the look of it, but it's a healthy fish and now very large.


The injured Grey Heron was lying in the long grass in the Dell. It can now stand up perfectly well if it wants.

6 comments:

  1. I wonder if the crows of Springfield Park, where I usually go once a week, miss me, and my peanuts. (it's too far for me right now)

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  2. The Heron looks like Nessie, only among the grass and not parting the waters.

    I was so distressed yesterday over the poor gosling that I neglected commenting on yesterday's excellent picture of the swift. Both yesterday's and today's pictures show how far removed they are from ordinary human experience - those alien eyes, and non-human unreadable expression. Creatures of the void and the air.

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    Replies
    1. I sometimes wonder what Swifts do with the strands of silk from the floating spiderlings that are their main food.

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    2. Maybe they use it for ornament! Maybe Coots aren't the only ones with the decoration gene.

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    3. I was wondering whether they gradually sucked it in like an errant strand of spaghetti, or just bit it off so it was left behind.

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