Thursday 16 July 2020

There are four new Moorhen chicks on the Long Water at Peter Pan ...


and also at least one in the Dell. Both nests were well hidden and the appearance of the chicks was unexpected. Moorhens are good at hiding.


A pair flirted mildly on the edge of the Serpentine.


The four young Coots at Peter Pan are quite large now and beginning to grow their flight feathers.


The Great Crested Grebes from the island fed a feather to one of their two chicks, which then climbed up on to a parent's back to join the other.


One of the grebes at the bridge brought in a pike that was far too large for a chick to eat ...


... so it ate the fish itself.


The three cygnets of the dominant Mute Swans on the Long Water, hatched later than the others, are still fluffy and pretty while the others are going through the awkward adolescent stage.


A Red-Crested Pochard drake in eclipse occupied a disused Coot nest under the fallen poplar in the Long Water, while another drake rested in the water.


The Blackcap family were in the bramble patch beside the Long Water again. This is the adult female ...

... and here is one of the young ones wandering around in the leaves and pecking at the berries.


The elderberries are beginning to ripen, attracting Wood Pigeons.


A Carrion Crow tried to get the last bits out of a crisp packet ...


... finding it easier to rummage if it stood on the bottom of the packet.


Neil shot this video in the street near his home. A Sparrowhawk had taken a Magpie, whose mate watched miserably but it was too late to save it. A Carrion Crow, seeing that the hawk's dangerous feet were occupied, tried to muscle in but failed.


The peculiar flowers of the Harlequin Glorybower bush in the Rose Garden attracted a hoverfly which ate pollen from a very long stamen. I think it's a male Migrant Hoverfly, Eupeodes corollae.


A Silver Lime tree near the Henry Moore sculpture ...


... is in flower, wafting a delicious fragrance across the path.

12 comments:

  1. What a lovely shot of the hoverfly drinking from the long stamen...
    And yes, scent from trees and flowers is intoxicating ....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You must try that Linden before the flowers fade. Stand at the sign in front of the Henry Moore and look uphill and to your left, and you will see the tree as I photographed it.

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  2. The Grebe chick is a lean, mean swimming machine.

    Coot teens are surprisingly cute: when they are small they have faces only a mother could love, and when they grow up they become, well, adult Coots ("cute Coot" would be an oxymoron).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The small chicks' red faces with orange pin feathers are the cutest thing a Coot can see, hideous as they look to us.

      Delete
  3. That's quite late flowering for a Linden tree; is it a different sort from the usual, I wonder? The fragrance is indeed delicious. A favourite of mine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's a big tree. Might be an American Basswood. You never know in the park.

      Delete
    2. That Linden tree is a Silver Lime (Tilia tomentosa, also known as Tilia argentea). It flowers later than other Lime trees. The rich-scented flowers are wrongly thought to be lethal to bees

      Delete
    3. Thanks, changed. I was puzzled by those inside-out leaves giving the tree a pale look.

      Delete
  4. Ralph, do you think that these are the little owls that were evicted from their hole by the Albert Memorial some months ago? Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, these owls have been on Buck Hill since 2012. The Albert Memorial pair are different -- or were, as I haven't seen or heard either of them for several months.

      Delete