This is the pair of Herring Gulls I filmed a few days ago waving leaves at each other. They regard a stretch of the lake shore as their private property, and are prepared to confront a huge Mute Swan to defend it.
The male of the pair did what is known as the 'great call'. I hope to be able to film both of them calling together, but so far haven't been able to get the video camera on them in time.
He played with the neck of a broken bottle. Usually it's young gulls you see playing with toys, but things that roll fascinate gulls of all ages.
Someone was feeding raw broad beans to the birds, none of which seemed to think they were edible -- not even Moorhens, which will eat just about anything. A Black-Headed Gull picked one up but quickly dropped it.
The Grey Heron is still standing in the nest on the island.
There is almost always another heron under it, either on the island or on a post, which is probably its mate. But I haven't seen the two on the nest together.
A Carrion Crow tried to get the lid off a takeaway coffee cup.
A Robin sang in the Rose Garden.
This is one of the family of Chaffinches at the southwest corner of the bridge.
There is newly laid turf on the south shore of the Serpentine, and a flock of Greylag Geese were enjoying it.
A Mute Swan splashed down, not an elegant business as they are too heavy to waterski effectively on their webbed feet.
A brief moment of sunlight in the afternoon lit a Cormorant jumping on to a post.
There may be an explanation for the flood in the Rose Garden. At the south end of the Dell there is an urn on a plinth marking a spring from which in the Middle Ages a conduit was built to provide water for the monks of Westminster Abbey just over a mile away. It would have been made of tree trunks hollowed out and fitted together, probably elm which is very water resistant. This notice, done in a good version of the inscriptional capitals on Trajan's Column, is on the plinth. 'Resumed' is a polite way of saying 'stolen', which was what King Henry VIII did to the property of the monasteries in 1536.
The notice used to be on the other side of the plinth until the Dell was railed off in 1922. It covered an older inscription which is now visible but beginning to erode away.
It says:
ON THIS SPOT STOOD
A CONDUIT HOUSE WHICH
SUPPLIED THE PRECINCTS OF
WESTMINSTER WITH WATER
TILL THE SPRING WAS CUT
OFF BY DRAINAGE IN 1861.
THE BUILDING WAS REMOVED
IN 1868 AND THIS MEMORIAL
ERECTED IN 1870 TO MARK
THE PLACE WHERE IT STOOD
(Another line is now illegible.)
The flood in the Rose Garden is on a direct line from here to Westminster Abbey. There is also a boggy patch on the lawn halfway to the Rose Garden. It looks as if the Victorian drainage scheme is collapsing, letting out the water from the spring.
Silver linings in clouds, I assume the pandemic has seen off the winter wonderland?
ReplyDeleteWell, the Wonderland is off, but as with all the recent restrictions it's no longer anything to do with a slightly worse than average flu epidemic but a side effect of a totalitarian government's attack on the British people.
DeleteAlways a fascinating story to learn about the Park.
ReplyDeleteIt's incredible, almost hair-raising, how the pair of gulls attempt to make a swan back down. Good thing the swan didn't feel insulted and chose just to make a half-hearted attempt to peck them out of its way.
I always wonder why they like things that roll. It doesn't look like useful practice for snatching things off.
They're inventing the wheel. A few thousand years and they'll be ruling the world.
DeleteFor me there is something so evocative about the cries of Herring Gulls. I guess possibly evocative of the seaside, though these days urban birds are doing better than coastal populations. To me it's up their with Curlew, Nightingale & passing skeins of Pink-footed Geese.
ReplyDeleteAlways brings a smile as I open the back door to top up the feeders & I hear the Herring Gulls passing over from their roost.
When I was young there were very few Herring Gulls in London -- I suppose there must have been some at the docks, but you didn't hear them in the streets. So they remind me of going to the seaside.
DeleteIt's the same with me. Please forgive me for bringing up Tolkien yet again, but I think this verse sums it up:
Delete"Legolas Greenleaf long under tree,
In joy thou hast lived, Beware of the Sea!
If thou hearest the cry of the gull on the shore,
Thy heart shall then rest in the forest no more."[
I nearly quoted that myself, but decided to leave it to you.
DeleteI've been in EC1 nearly 30 years; it's been only in the last few that we've seen the bigger gulls here. And we're not that far from the River. Common Gulls have been common. This last summer a pair of Lesser Black-Backed nested on the roof above me. I have seen a Herring eating roadkill pigeon, but I don't think they've copied the infamous Killer yet. In nearby Grays Inn you see them perform the wormdance occasionally.
ReplyDeleteGood to have confirmation that Lesser Black-Backs are nesting in Central London. Their numbers remain quite small compared to the ubiquitous and ominously fertile Herring Gulls. The overwhelming majority of these in the park are in their first two years, a sign of how fast the population is increasing.
DeleteSadly, they were unsuccessful in the end, this year. The 2 chicks looked big and sturdy enough to withstand weather or attack, but nowhere near ready to fly. Then suddenly they were gone. Neighbours reported a ruckus, involving magpies. Could that be the reason? I was rather upset. Do hope they use the nest site again next year.
DeleteIt seems a likely explanation if the Magpies attacked in a gang. Gulls nest in the open and the chicks are dangerously exposed.
DeleteYes, that does make sense. The chicks appeared unharmed by some fairly harsh weather; we had very strong sunshine early on, and quite severe if short-lived rain. After the attack, neighbours also reported seeing both magpies and the gulls pecking at something. I didn't see this myself.Cannibalism?
DeleteI don't think they'd hesitate at opportunistic cannibalism.
Delete