Sunday 1 November 2020

A mild grey Sunday brought people to the Lido restaurant for the last time before our mad government imposes another destructive lockdown, and the Starlings took advantage of it.


With a lot of people in the park, there wasn't much to see in the way of small birds, but some reliable Great Tits appeared near the bridge ...


... a Chaffinch looked out from inside a holly tree ...


... and there was a Robin in the bushes behind the Big Bird statue.


A Rose-Ringed Parakeet looked very decorative in an American oak.


Long-Tailed Tits flew down the edge of the Long Water.


The male Peregrine was on the barracks tower again.


There was a brisk wind, and a Grey Heron stood in a streamlined posture.


Black-Headed Gulls like to gather on the handrail of the jetty at the Lido swimming area.


Cormorants stood on the ring of posts which is all that's left of the swans' nesting island on the Long Water, an uncomfortably small perch for their big feet. 



They fished under the marble fountain. Eventually one of them brought up a small fish along with a bunch of algae which it had to remove before swallowing the fish.


Two young Mute Swans took a dim view of the Cormorants coming so close, and shooed them away from time to time.


Another two on the Serpentine managed a short but controlled flight ...


... and came down without crashing.


The wildflower patch in the Rose Garden has been grubbed up, but some of the plants have seeded themselves in the lawn around and there were some clumps of flax with pretty blue flowers.

6 comments:

  1. Good blog as always, I am also concerned about lockdown. I used to go to the park before all this happened, but sadly haven't for ages now.

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  2. I didn't know flax flowers were so pretty. Always something to admire and surprise.

    The lockdown madness is Europe-wide, I fear. We were robbed of the spring, and now goes the autumn. Not wanting to place a heavier burden on Ralph's shoulders, but I would lie if I didn't say that his blog is keeping me sane.

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    1. This is not about a moderately nasty wave of flu, which is almost over. We are witnessing the deliberate destruction of the western economy, and even culture, for political purposes.

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  3. Yes another depressing bout of lockdown without the glorious spring weather!

    The tree the RN Parakeet is in isn't a Red Oak- which in this country tend to go more yellow & never this scarlet colour. Suspect this is another North American species- Pin Oak, Quercus palustris which has this leaf shape (Red Oak has a broader, less heavily incised leaf) & has this glorious autumn (fall) colour. Scarlet Oak, Q. coccinea, is quite similar, so possibly this too.

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    1. Yes, I was being a bit vague about that as I know there are several species, which is why I used lower case. A nearby tree has been identified as Q. coccinea, but who can be sure in a park full of unlabelled specimen trees?

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