Friday 10 July 2020

The Little Owl was back in her usual alder tree after several days' absence caused by wind and rain.


Later the wind rose again and she went back into her hole.

Swifts whizzed over the Round Pond ...


... and Pied Wagtails ran around the edge.


A Magpie clung to the bark of an oak in the leaf yard.


A Wren perched on a branch beside the Long Water.


A Goldcrest was singing in the evergreens near the bridge, and Ahmet Amerikali got a picture of it.


Young Rose-Ringed Parakeets beg for food by rapidly bobbing their head. This one eventually got a share of a peanut.


The Great Crested Grebe chicks at the bridge are now really too large to ride on their parent's back, but one was allowed on anyway.


A Moorhen looked after two chicks under the same willow tree.


The four Mute Swan cygnets are now experts at touting for food, and were at the Diana fountain landing stage without their parents.


Duncan Campbell reports that the seven young Egyptian Geese at Marble Arch are now making short flights. Their mother (third from right) has now almost completely regrown her wing feathers and should be able to lead them out soon.


A Red Admiral butterfly hung on in the gusty wind. The iron railings don't provide a good foothold.


A Honeybee pushed a small Oedemera nobilis beetle out of the way.


Thistles attracted Buff-Tailed Bumblebees ...


... and a hoverfly -- I think the species is Episyrphus balteatus. This fine photograph is by Ahmet.

8 comments:

  1. I wonder if the ugly duckling thingee, which I always was very puzzled about, actually referred to the current, if short-lived, scruffy look of the cygnets?

    Oh for a bit of rain and wind, even if the Little Owl didn't find it to her liking.

    Grebes are such indulgent and loving parents!

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    1. I wish I could swap a couple of days of 41°C for what we are getting at the moment.

      Grebes are the very best of parents up to that dreaded moment when the teenagers get what Melanie Klein would have called the Bad Beak. The upbringing of the young does include training in finding and catching fish, but suddenly it isn't play any more.

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  2. Confirm the hoverfly ID, Ralph; often referred to as a Marmalade Fly by those with an aversion of scientific names!

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    1. Thank you. Always worried by insect identification done from books and web sites with almost no personal knowledge.

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  3. So good to see the wee owl again and those eyes are soooo...sweet...I have yet to meet/see this little owl...
    I love the red admiral butterfly and bees PICS..so colourful..
    Feeling BLESSED JOYFUL today..such a special day...:))))

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    1. You need to wait for a sunny day with little wind to see the owl. Tomorrow Sunday looks hopeful.

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  4. That is not a long horn beetle, it is a oedemera nobilis

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    1. Thank you. A few days ago I made exactly the opposite mistake.

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