Sunday 24 May 2020

The big Coot nest at the Dell restaurant has survived yesterday's wind, and today there was at least one chick in it. These Coots are master builders, and also look after their chicks well, and have been successful over the past few years. 


But the smaller nest, less strongly made, was washed away and no trace of it remains.

The Mute Swan nesting in a dangerously exposed place near the Lido was turning her eggs. The nest is fenced off with plastic barriers but has become something of a public spectacle, and you can hear the voices of onlookers.


The dominant swan on the Long Water has cleared most of the intruding swans off his territory, and he was with his mate on their nest in the reeds.


However, the Black Swan is still there.


It's accustomed to getting its own way. I hope it can be persuaded to leave quietly. The previous Black Swan tangled with the dominant swan, came off worse, and left the park shortly afterwards and flew to St James's Park.

The ejected swans were just the other side of the bridge in a row along the path. They are beginning to moult, and they like to rest here at this time.


Geese come to the park to moult in the safety and space of the Serpentine. The usual two Bar-Headed x Greylag hybrids from St James's Park have arrived ...



... and this Canada with a speckled head is a regular visitor.


The lake may be a safe place for adult geese, but not for goslings. A pair of Egyptians have turned up with their new brood already down to one.


The pair with four are now down to three, but the brood of six, now quite large, haven't had any further losses.

I was photographing the usual Grey Heron under the waterfall in the Dell when a Grey Wagtail shot past, climbing at a steep angle to catch an insect.


Pied Wagtails have such an explosively fast takeoff that they can safely get out of the way of anything. This one walking down the edge of the Serpentine took no notice of a Moorhen pecking near it, and even of a rat coming down to drink in the lake.


A Magpie sunbathed in the scrub at the east end of the Serpentine.


The Goldcrest family could be indistinctly seen in the bushes near the bridge, but I could only get a picture of one adult.


There is a large carp in the small central pool of the Italian Garden with a nasty injury to both sides that looks like a dog bite, improbable as that may seem. It may have been attacked in the lake and dragged ashore, and someone put it into the pool to recover. But it will have to be hauled out of this confined space. Paul has had words with the gardeners, and tomorrow they will bring a net.


Joan Chatterley reports that there are three more cygnets in Battersea Park.


Tom, on a necessary family errand, stopped off at Pilning Wetlands near Bristol, where there is a Collared Pratincole, a very rare visitor. He got a good shot of it flying overhead.

4 comments:

  1. Oh, well done Tom! They are so rare and difficult to see. Don't they look like giant swallows?

    I am astonished that even carps are not safe from being attacked by criminally uncontrolled dogs.

    That's one ugly rat, for sure. Are they easy to see in the park?

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    1. Splendid sighting by Tom. I have never seen one in my life.

      As for rats, the city is stuffed with them. Building work on neighbouring houses brings them into mine. They laugh at poison and traps of any kind. I have found that putting hot chilli powder on their runs gives them the idea that they are not welcome.

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    2. I shall never forget the images of my childhood of my father jumping on top of a stool in fear while my mother beat on a rat with her broom until it was a wet stain on the pavement. One particularly enterprising rat even climbed through the curtains and would peer at us from above.

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    3. I don't think your father would have forgotten that moment either.

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