After a long absence the female Peregrine was back on the barracks tower.
Feral Pigeons circled casually underneath.
The attitude of the pigeons in the park, towards both raptors and the pigeon-eating gull, seems to be 'If anyone gets eaten, the chances are it won't be me.' In contrast, the pigeons below these Peregrines' other feeding station on the Metropole Hilton Hotel in the Edgware Road disappear from the sky when the predators are around, and you can see them sheltering in shop fronts and under cars.
As I left the park on the other side of the lake, the female was joined by her mate. They never perch close together. Peregrines are not touchy-feely creatures.
The Carrion Crows have discovered that the little paper packets handed out at the snack bars contain sugar. They dunk them in the lake to make a delicious sweet sludge before tearing them open.
A Rose-Ringed Parakeet ate the blossom off an arbutus tree in the Dell. This tree is fruiting later than the other arbutuses in the park, and the fruits are still green and hard.
A Wood Pigeon reached for berries in a holly tree beside the Long Water.
Two Wood Pigeons bathed in the little pool at the top of the Dell waterfall.
A Robin singing in the Rose Garden paused for a second to eat an insect it had just seen on a twig.
A Blue Tit followed me up Buck Hill and called from a bush to ask for a pine nut.
A Great Tit already had one.
A Pied Wagtail hunted insects beside the Round Pond.
The Black Swan wasn't on the Round Pond any longer. It had flown down to the Serpentine and was touting for food at the Dell restaurant.
The extremely fluffy Red Crested Pochard on the Long Water was joined by an admiring female and a rival drake still emerging from eclipse.
One of the youngest Great Crested Grebes on the Long Water was still begging loudly. Its father wasn't taking any notice, but he hasn't yet got to the stage of chasing it away.
Interesting about the Peregrines sitting not too close to each other as I could see the pair on Ealing Hospital yesterday were also well spaced apart as they usually are when I see them on passing. I've seen Feral Pigeons fly just below them & they've taken no notice of this potential meal-presumably already sated.
ReplyDeleteIt may be a practical consideration, as either of them may suddenly rocket off the ledge in any direction.
DeleteIsn't the Grebe teen still too young to be cast off? It still has very visible stripes.
ReplyDeleteA good singer must be well fed. That goes for Wagnerian sopranos as it does for robins, I guess.
The grebe parents are still feeding the young ones but not as often. It has the effect of forcing the young ones to fish, and keeping them alive while they learn.
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