Tom and I were investigating a flock of Long-Tailed Tits in the trees near the Queen's Temple.
We found some Greenfinches from the local family ...
...and with them was a male Brambling, only the second I've seen in the park.
Two Coal Tits flitted about in a cedar on the edge of the Rose Garden.
A Blue Tit posed prettily beside the Long Water ...
... and a Robin sat down comfortably on a twig.
A Grey Wagtail was back after several weeks' absence on the little pool at the top of the Dell waterfall. It caught an insect hovering near the edge.
Two Pied Wagtails ran around the edge of the Round Pond. It seems that the waves breaking over the edge leave little water creatures stranded for them to eat.
A Magpie near the Henry Moore sculpture dug a hole in the ground. It did eventually find something to eat at the bottom.
Starlings jumped around at the Lido restaurant.
Rose-Ringed Parakeets lined up on the railings at Peter Pan.
The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull looked bored.
A young Herring Gull examined a packet of Haribo Starmix.
The Black Swan was back on the Serpentine.
The odd trio of ducks swam around in the Italian Garden ...
... and a Gadwall dabbled in the air bubbler in the lake below, which brings up edible creatures.
A bracket fungus on a dead tree on Buck Hill. It seems too yellow to be an Oyster Mushroom.
wow, a Brambling! What a great observation! How did you find it? We only see them in winter and must make a special trip solely to seek for them. Most of our Bramblings come from Russia.
ReplyDeleteIs the Black Swan calling to other bird? What is she doing?
It seems to be some kind of Black Swan signal. The swan may or may not call while making that gesture, and vice versa.
DeleteThe Brambling just happened to be with the Greenfinches. Mixed finch flocks seem to be a thing, as with tits. The first Brambling I saw in the park was with Chaffinches.
Wow-lucky to get the Brambling, Ralph-such beautiful birds. Quite a few were reported this autumn on passage but good to get one like this. Only ones I've seen this year was at feeders in Norfolk back in January.
ReplyDeleteI saw your comment about the dearth of Blackbirds on London birders where I did leave a comment. The same thing has worried me for the last couple of months as I've seen a few. On my local patch a small number arrived with the Redwings, etc a couple of weeks ago & I saw at least 4 on Sunday, but none around the garden at home, none at various sites I work at. Some weeks ago at an estate I work a couple of days a week I found the remains of 3 Blackbirds on a lawn one morning .No flesh on them, just feathered corpses. My colleague said cat but though there are a couple of cats there I thought it was unlikely 3 adult birds would be caught in the open on the same day. I do hope this isn't yet another disease! I haven't seen a Greenfinch locally for a few weeks & even Goldfinches which are normally plentiful, have been much fewer in number. Worrying times on so many levels!
Yes, very worrying. Our Blackbirds have been deprived of habitat by the damned leaf blowers, but were recovering a bit till this year. We have had a few Redwings flying over, but otherwise a complete thrush famine. There are two local Greenfinch families in this bit of the park, and two Chaffinch families nearby, but none elsewhere. Goldfinches never common in the park but heard occasionally -- more of them in the streets on aerials,
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