Thursday 10 December 2020

The White-Fronted Goose was still in the Diana fountain enclosure ...


... along with a Pied Wagtail looking for insects in the puddles on the sculpted granite ...


... and the resident Grey Heron running around for no apparent reason. Paul thought it might be looking for worms, but that's a strange way of going about it.


A young heron preened and scratched on a post at the island.


Above it, workmen from the tree maintenance firm were installing wicker baskets to encourage more herons to nest.


I couldn't find the Goldeneye on the Serpentine, but it's easy to miss.

A young Herring Gull played with a feather.


A young Black-Headed Gull had found a crayfish claw.


A puddle left by the rain on the horse ride beside the Serpentine provided food for some others. Whatever it was, it was too small to see -- maybe insect larvae that had floated out of the sand.


This is one of the Black-Headed Gulls ringed by Bill Haines, none the worse for its experience.


Both the Peregrines were on the barracks tower, closer together than usual.


The Rose-Ringed Parakeets, perfectly camouflaged by leaves in summer, are now very conspicuous. Peregrines have been seen taking them in flight.


A Carrion Crow fished an acorn out of the lake and pecked it open.


Long-Tailed Tits flew along the edge of the Serpentine.


There was a Robin at each end of the Lido, one on the railings ...


... and one on the handlebars of an ancient bicycle.


A picture from the owl finding expedition two days ago: Tom captured a passing Woodcock.

6 comments:

  1. Went out yesterday around 2pm. Wasn't lucky to see the peregrines up there, but I did find the chaffinch where you said-along with a million tits, raiding a feeder. I also didn't see the black swan at the Round, but I caught 2 pied wagtails (one of which looked confusingly like a white wag, until others clarified in a Facebook group that both were pied).

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    1. Female Pied Wagtails have grey backs, and look much paler than the males.

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  2. I wonder if the captured gull told its friends about how it was abducted by an alien who performed all sorts of medical procedures on it before being released.

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    1. At least it's got two rings to prove its story.

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  3. Glad you connected with the Whitefront yesterday Ralph. Most of the London birds seem to be staying put. I'm hoping I'll see the Barn Elms birds on the playing fields when I do my WeBS count tomorrow.

    The Goldeneye was reported yesterday. I know when I saw it last week it does spend a lot of time diving so easy to miss-obviously plenty of food for it there!

    Lovely to get the Woodcock the other day. For 3 consecutive winters I had one on my patch but none last winter or this so far. The Richmond Park birders did a co-ordinated count a couple of evenings ago & only one was seen. Normally quite a few are recorded which suggests not many have arrived yet. It is also a declining species so hope this isn't evidence of a more precipitous decline. It's outrageous that this & Snipe are still legitimate quarry for shooters given this reduction in population size.

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    1. I've seen two Woodcock in central London: one flying in Regent's Park and one sadly dead, cause unknown, in Kensington Gardens.

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