Monday 5 October 2020

A Great Spotted Woodpecker flew overhead and perched in the top of a tall tree near the Italian Garden.

A Wood Pigeon tried to eat acorns in an oak tree near the Round Pond. They are hard to detach, and it dropped the only one its got. But it must have been succeeding sometimes, as there were other Wood Pigeons in the tree doing the same.

A Pied Wagtail ran around in the grass beside the pond looking for insects.

Starlings conversed on a table umbrella at the Lido restaurant as they waited to grab scraps.


A Feral Pigeon sat on one of the galvanised iron shelves, looking as if it was being served up for lunch. Luckily the pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull was elsewhere.

Mario was in Regent's Park, where he saw a Herring Gull beside the lake eating a pigeon. He didn't actually see the kill, so it's not clear whether we have a new pigeon killer or whether the pigeon had died of other causes.

A round white pigeon near the Italian Garden stared solemnly at the camera.

A Robin under a bench in the Italian Garden examined a withered flower to see if there was anything edible in it. There wasn't.

A young Grey Heron in the Dell looking for rats in a flower bed turned round when it realised it was being photographed.

This teenage Mute Swan has just grown its first flight feathers, and is preening them. Soon the young swans will be trying to fly, at first very clumsily with a lot of involuntary splashdowns.

Blondie the Egyptian Goose preened her pale wings.

The odd trio of a Red Crested Pochard drake, a female Mallard, and a subordinate Mallard drake are back, and could be seen at the far side of the Vista.

Although there are at least sixty Common Pochards on the Long Water, usually only one comes over to the near edge of the Vista. I think it's a resident and prefers to stay away from the others, which are migrants.

A Honeybee climbed into a fuschsia flower in the Rose Garden.

A Harlequin ladybird rested on a bench. These invasive insects seem to have crowded out all the native ladybirds in the park -- I haven't seen one this year.

On a fairly warm day the ivy flowers at the back of the Lido were buzzing with insects, mostly Common Wasps and Greenbottle flies. I still haven't managed to find an Ivy Bee.

The sunshine had also brought out two male Emperor dragonflies in the Italian Garden. They were chasing each other, so I didn't get a picture.

6 comments:

  1. That perfectly spherical pigeon is adorable-looking. The other pigeon looking like dinner is served is also very pretty and elegantly coloured. They are so common, and yet so beautiful.

    I wish I coould understand what the starlings are telling each other.

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    1. We underestimate the beauty of some of our common birds. If a Blue Tit could only be found by going to a distant place in the Brazilian rainforest, everyone would be delirious about its exotic colours.

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  2. Seems extremely late for an Emperor, Ralph- I rarely even see one beyond the end of August. Are you sure about the ID?

    At least it was amore pleasant day!

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    1. Absolutely sure they were Emperors. Paul and I saw them clearly and close up for a couple of minutes.

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  3. Thanks Ralph. Certainly unusual- I wonder if they could have been migrants from the south? I haven't seen any for some weeks.

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    1. Neither had I, until these two showed up. We still have a few Migrant Hawkers, I saw one yesterday.

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