Sunday 25 October 2020

The day started with rain. Two Cormorants have been using the tern raft in the Long Water as a fishing platform. You would think the the edge of the plastic sheet surrounding it made perching very uncomfortable, but they don't seem to mind.


A Moorhen couldn't resist climbing on the scaffolding in the Italian Garden.


The day soon brightened up. The Red Crested Pochard in the fountain preened.


A solitary Gadwall drake fed at the Lido ...


... where the Black Swan was still following the male Mute Swan around. ...


... and a Dunnock foraged along the edge.


A Starling washed frantically.


The Grey Heron on the rock in the Dell scratched its chin.


A young Lesser Black-Backed Gull flew past an autumn tree. You can tell it's a Lesser Black-Back and not a Herring Gull because the flight feathers are uniformly dark.


A Great Tit came out to feed in the holly tree near the bridge ...


... and there was a Blue Tit ...


... with a flock of Long-Tailed Tits on the other side of the lake.


The ivy at the back of the Lido is still attracting a few late Common Wasps.


There were dense patches of tiny mushrooms, barely half an inch across, in the grass near the Queen's Temple. I think they belong to the Inkcap family, which is so large that it's almost impossible to tell their species.

Update: But naturally Mario knows what they are -- Fairy Inkcap (Coprinellus disseminatus).


As they say in the French navy, À l'eau, c'est l'heure!


You never know what you're going to find in the park on a Sunday afternoon. The music is by Heinrich Isaac (1450-1519).

4 comments:

  1. Oh my God, the music! It's almost like a sign from above that there is still beauty in the world. What were they doing? Were they practicing? Many years ago it was usual for classically trained musicians from Eastern Europe to play in the street or the subway to earn some money here, which usually broke my heart, as they were so good.

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    1. They were just practising, in the agreeable acoustic of a tunnel, and didn't ask for money. They couldn't finish the Isaac piece anyway, as more voices were due to come in and they didn't have enough singers to go beyond the first 33 bars.

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  2. The mushroom: Fairy Inkcap (Coprinellus disseminatus)

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    1. Many thanks again. Have put a note in the text.

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