Friday 6 November 2020

After several weeks without a sight of a Blackbird, at last one turned up in the bushes at the back of the Lido.


There was also a single Mistle Thrush in a treetop near the Italian Garden. But before I could get closer for a better picture ...


... it was chased away by a Great Spotted Woodpecker.


The Jays, which have been busy burying acorns, have now finished and more of them are turning up to be given peanuts.


A flight of Long-Tailed Tits passed through the trees by the Serpentine Lodge ...


... taking some Blue Tits with them.


Late afternoon sunshine brought out a couple of Common Wasps on the ivy in the lodge garden.


A Starling stared down from a kiosk at the Lido restaurant.


A Rose-Ringed Parakeet dreamed of fame.


As happened yesterday, the male Peregrine was on the barracks tower by himself for some time ...


... but in the afternoon he was joined by his mate. This picture was taken from across the lake and the football fields as I was going home.


The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull was lying down in an effort to make the Feral Pigeons think he was asleep. He nearly succeeded in catching one.


Egyptian Geese, coming from either side of the equator, have little understanding of the northern seasons and may breed at any time of the year.


One of the teenage Mute Swans on the Serpentine looked for better grass at the top of the steep bank but decided the climb wasn't worth the effort.


A flight of Gadwalls arrived on the Long Water.


A clump of Velvet Shank mushrooms on a dead tree near the Albert Memorial. Thanks to Mario for telling me about them.

6 comments:

  1. Poor thing. Such a powerful and graceful figure on the water, such a bumbling clown on foot.

    Pigeon Killer crouches as if he were a cat. Only a little wiggling of its posterior before the attack is needed.

    What had happened to Blackbirds? Had they been hiding?

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    1. There has been an inexplicable shortage of Blackbirds for some time. They have been moulting, but are normally still visible in the bushes and hedges. A couple of days ago I visited all their favourite places and didn't find one. Normally we should have a fair number of migrant Blackbirds and Mistle Thrushes now, but hardly any have arrived. The shortage seems to be London-wide.

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  2. Glad you got a Blackbird! I visited a site not too far from me which I hadn't been to before by the canal & quite a mix of thrush species with 5 Blackbirds, a couple each of Song Thrush & Fieldfare plus at least 15 Redwing. I suspect these Blackbirds may well be migrants.

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    1. Glad to hear that. Usually a lot of the migrant Blackbirds are young males still with dark bills, which makes them noticeable.

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    2. I made a point of counting Blackbirds today while taking a walk. There was none. They must be moulting discreetly somewhere, because otherwise I can't understand their disappearance.

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    3. Let's hope the problem is just that the migrants from northern Europe are late this year. But Redwings and Fieldfares have come to London already.

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