Saturday 11 July 2020

After a long absence there is at least one Kingfisher back on the Long Water. Tom got a distant view of it yesterday. Today it came nearer and perched on the dead willow near the Italian Garden.


This young Blackbird was being fed by its parents yesterday, but today it was finding small insects in the leaf litter.


A Goldcrest sang in the yew tree near the bridge.


There is a family of Greenfinches on the west side of the Long Water near the Queen's Temple, and they can often be seen flying over the path. Mark Williams got a fine picture of the adult male.


He also found a young Robin.


A Blue Tit got impatient at being photographed and wanted to be fed.


A juvenile Black-Headed Gull perched on a post at the Vista.


A pleasing picture by Tom of the young Kestrels in Richmond Park doing their impression of Mount Rushmore.


A Cormorant, a Grey Heron and two Red-Eared Slider terrapins on the fallen horse chestnut in the Long Water.


The Moorhen under the willow near the bridge stood protectively over a chick -- or possibly chicks, it's hard to tell.


On the other side of the willow the Great Crested Grebe chicks waited with their father while their mother was off fishing for them.


No sightings of more than one chick in the nest at the east end of the island, and it seems to be the only one. But we won't know until it's old enough to come out on the open water.


The seven young Egyptian Geese on the traffic island at Marble Arch preened and stretched their wings restlessly. They want to be off, but they have to wait for their mother -- at the right -- to be airworthy again so she can lead them over the road and down to the lake.


The hollyhocks in the Rose Garden are very popular with Buff-Tailed Bumblebees. Big flowers attract big bees, which get covered in big grains of pollen.


A Small White butterfly perched on a leaf.


This dragonfly is probably a Four-Spotted Chaser, though it's hard to tell from this angle. It was nodding its head, and I couldn't see why. It didn't seem to be either eating or cleaning its eyes with its front feet.

8 comments:

  1. It looks like there's a second chick under the moorhen with its head hidden, though it's hard to assign ownership to the legs. Jim

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  2. The imperious Blue Tit looks like it just jumped out of an impressionist painting.

    Loved the Mt Rushmore impersonation.

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    1. Blue Tits can get very bossy. They sometimes drive off Great Tits, which though larger are more easygoing.

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  3. Great to have a Kingfisher back! Nice shot of the Goldcrest.

    Not the best angle to the dragonfly movie but I think it's a 4-spotted Chaser- you can just about see the extra spot on the wing at the nodus, though it is a smaller size spot than many individuals. Also it has brown eyes which Black-tailed Skimmers don't.

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    1. In that case it's the first one I've ever seen in the park, though they are common at Rainham.

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  4. Beautiful blog of all the birds especially the kingfisher...
    I think the nodding dragonfly is wooing a mate or maybe acknowledging you, Ralph and giving approval for zooming in at him/her...
    Have a super Sunday all..:)))

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    1. Still baffled by the dragonfly. Could it be scanning the scene for edible insetcs?

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