Monday 9 November 2020

A Cormorant had a frantic wash in front of the island.


Its companions dried their wings on the posts at the island. On a calm day when there's no wind, flapping helps to speed things up.


Starlings washed with equal vigour on a smaller scale.


A Coot found it easier to stand under a fountain in the Italian Garden.


One of the small boathouses is a favourite fishing place for Grey Herons. The concrete beams holding up the brickwork extend only just below water level, and fish lurk under them. When a fish incautiously puts its head out, the heron grabs it.


A Pied Wagtail perched on the roof of the other boathouse.


So far we only have a handful of Common Gulls. Like many of the winter migrants, they're late arriving this year. Usually there are half a dozen on the Serpentine and 40 or 50 on the Round Pond, which they prefer for some reason.


Mute Swans often fly with slightly curved necks, but this one photographed by Duncan Campbell is in a very exaggerated position. It stayed like that as it went past.


The Black Swan, still on the Round Pond, has again taken to following a male Mute Swan around.


This Robin in the leaf yard isn't the one I usually feed, and when my Robin comes out, this one often attacks it. Probably they're mates in the breeding season but now, as usual with Robins, they're bitter rivals.


A Chaffinch perched in the holly tree near the bridge.


A Long-Tailed Tit paused for a moment on a dead branch.


A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee in the Rose Garden worked hard to get nectar out of a withered flower. There were other flowers in better condition nearby, but the bee seemed to like this one.


A Honeybee was doing much better in a clump of baby sage, and her pollen bags were completely full.


The mild weather brought out a few Common Wasps on the fatsia clump near the bridge.

2 comments:

  1. Poor Bumblebee. I wonder how much food it was able to get out of a dead flower.

    If the Swan had hurt its neck so severely as to twist it like that, it wouldn't be able to fly about, right?

    Poor Black Swan.

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    Replies
    1. I don't think the flying swan was injured. I think it just had very bad posture, something that must come easily with all those neck vertebrae.

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