The young Grey Wagtails at the Lido are still being fed by their parents, but they are also finding larvae for themselves. It will be a while before they master the skill of catching insects in flight.
A Chiffchaff sang from the top of a catalpa tree. In the English climate these trees take a very long time to come into leaf.
A Wren was singing fit to bust at the back of the Lido, but was moving around too much for a video to be possible.
The wild roses here have come out.
The four male Reed Warblers in the reed bed at the Diana fountain were all singing to outdo each other, and there were occasional glimpses of females as they moved around the reeds.
Someone was playing recordings of Reed Warblers at them, trying to get them to come out. This is a very wrong thing to do especially in the breeding season, as it drives the males frantic. If you stay quiet they will get used to your presence.
The Little Owl looked down from her favourite branch in the alder tree on Buck Hill.
The young Grey Heron on the island scratched itself.
The Black Swan has come down from the Round Pond on to the Serpentine.
It seemed to have two companions which had presumably shown it the way, as it's a young bird and has never been here before.
But, as Henry Kissinger said of the United States, swans have no permanent friends or enemies, only interests.
The dominant pair of Mute Swans on the Long Water were having a post-mating display. It looks as if they're serious about nesting again.
A pair of Egyptian Geese at the Vista have six brand new goslings.
But the pair on the Serpentine have lost another and are down to six.
The lone survivor on the other side of the lake was with its mother. You can see how much it's grown.
While female Mallards are nesting, the drakes often form men's clubs. Two preened amicably side by side on the dead willow in the Long Water.
The Coot nesting on the pedalos looked apprehensively at is neighbours and perhaps wondered whether it had chosen the wrong place.
The Coot on the big nest at the Dell restaurant just looked bored.
Superbly odd photo with the pedalos, quite painterly.(not sure what sort of painter). Three adults feeding the tits?
ReplyDeleteYves Tanguy?
DeleteMinimum of three adults, which I saw all at once. Hard to tell individuals apart. Could easily be four -- two parents plus uncle and aunt from the destroyed nes.
Had to look him up, but not sure; I feel there's a naive realism in the figures/birds plonked among the boats seemingly at random, unlike Tanguy.
DeleteAn efficient set-up, underemployed relatives helping out with the chicks.
That's like having Death looking at you twice over. Perhaps apprehension of it would get even into a Coot's thick skull.
ReplyDeleteHow I love the cheerful song of the Chiffchaff!
All it needed was a Carrion Crow on another pedalo to be a picture you could call The Death of Hope. But I really don't think that a Coot could entertain such a thought. There is a poem:
DeleteSee the happy moron!
He doesn't give a damn.
I wish I were a moron.
My God! Perhaps I am.
Good to see the juvenile Grey Wagtail doing so well. I didn't see any on my walk along the Brent yesterday where I had 2 last week, but was rewarded by a posing male Kingfisher at a pond near the river.
ReplyDeleteSo irresponsible to use tape luring of the Reed Warblers while they are breeding! As you say what happened to field craft & patience!
Lucky to be able to watch and film the young Grey Wagtails through the gap in the boarding while they are running around in the deserted Lido.
DeleteAre the pedalos under shelter in place orders too? Interesting photo.
ReplyDeleteThe pedalos were put out of use by the Public Misery Act 2020. Any kind of fun, however harmless, is verboten. East Germany under Walter Ulbricht was a mere warm-up act for Britain under Boris Johnson. One thing to laugh about is that 'Professor' Neil Ferguson of Imperial College, the government's 'scientific' adviser with a long track record of predicting casualties in past epidemics that were too high by orders of magnitude, has been obliged to resign after being caught visiting his mistress, contrary to the lockdown law he was instrumental in enforcing.
Delete