After some coming and going by the adults, two of the young got fed.
A Carrion Crow dug furiously near the Rose Garden. Not sure what it was finding -- I looked at the place and there were no ants or wasps.
A large flock of tits passed along the edge of the Long Water. It turned out to consist entirely of Blue Tits. Here is a young one.
A Coal Tit waited in a laurel bush while I filled up the Rose Garden feeder.
A Grey Heron preened on the awning of the Peter Pan II electric boat. The rips in the canvas were made by Herring Gulls, which love pulling things to bits.
A Moorhen went down the weir to the nest in the chamber underneath. The bunch of leaves is not part of the nest, and is just caught on some obstruction.
An enormous goose has turned up on the Serpentine. It's probably a Greylag x domestic cross ...
... but it seems to identify as a Canada, since it has a Canada mate.
A flight of Canadas crossed the reed bed to land in the Diana fountain enclosure, an undisturbed spot where geese can feed unmolested as long as the fountain remains closed to the public.
Joan Chatterley photographed one of the young Egyptians on the Round Pond, which is very blonde (and therefore almost certainly female). It might even be paler than Blondie ...
... who was in her usual place on the Serpentine shore.
The clever Mallard on the Serpentine carefully escorted her three ducklings back from a feeding expedition, first round one boathouse and then to their safe place behind the railings of the other boathouse.
There were a dozen Red-Crested Pochards on the Long Water, almost all drakes in eclipse. Can you spot the female in this picture?
It's the one on the right, the only one with brown eyes rather than the red of the males.
More Sunday dancing, this time at the Albert Memorial -- Queen Victoria would not have been amused. The statue group is one of four representing the continents. The design committee probably drew lots to see whether Africa or Asia would get the camel or the elephant, and Africa got the camel.
What would have Queen Victoria done, I wonder, if she came across a bunch of people practicing for salsa dancing.
ReplyDeleteThe new hybrid goose is so enormous it dwarfs its Canada mate!
Blondie will always be the loveliest one.
I think Victoria was reasonably jolly before Albert died and she settled into grim widowhood, but even then there were limits and salsa would have been beyond them,
ReplyDeleteThe bill of the piebald goose just seems wrong for a pure Greylag species mix, though I don't know all the domestic varieties. Jim
ReplyDeleteIts massive body makes its head and bill look small in comparison. I don't know what to make of it.
DeleteGood to see the Hobby video. Have you seen what they are being fed on? I couldn't see here so probably something small such as insect prey?
ReplyDeleteI'm assuming they're feeding mostly on dragonflies, of which there are still plenty. The parents are sometimes seen at a considerable altitude. Wish they'd take some parakeets -- they are capable of this and I even have a picture from several years ago.
DeleteI remember an article in British Birds reporting the predation of parakeets by Hobby in the park as well perhaps more expected by Tawny Owl, Sparrowhawk & Peregrine. The latter species seems to be very partial to them in London where there is no shortage.
ReplyDeleteYes, I was a co-author with Jeff Martin. June 2015.
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