A Blue Tit in a tree in the Rose Garden sang quietly to his mate on the next branch. They aren't in full song yet.
A Robin sang in a rose bush. Of course they have been singing all winter.
A Chaffinch was also singing, but I couldn't make a video because of background noise.
This is the shy one of the pair of Coal Tits near the Albert Memorial which won't come to my hand. But it did consent to take a pine nut off the ground.
Sunshine brought out the iridescent colours of a Starling at the Lido.
Carrion Crows were also looking finely glossy.
The usual Jay waited at the bridge for its customary peanut.
A pair of Stock Doves are nesting in the hole in the plane tree north of the Albert Memorial that has previously been used by Mandarins.
The nest at the east end of the island still isn't getting any larger despite the constant attendance of a Grey Heron.
A Peregrine flew out from the tower.
Someone told me that he had seen the man with the Harris Hawks flying one over this area, hired to scare away Feral Pigeons from nearby flats. You'd hardly think this was necessary with a pair of Peregrines hunting here. But certainly there were far fewer pigeons than usual. Maybe they've become blasé about the Peregrines.
A Herring Gull had taken over the Coots' nest on the boat platform. I'm sure it doesn't mean to nest there, and it's too young anyway, so it had moved in just for the fun of driving out a Coot.
The Coot under the willow near the bridge was firmly occupying its nest ...
... while a pair of Great Crested Grebes hung around waiting for an opportunity to steal it. This picture was taken from the bridge, looking down through the tree.
The dominant Mute Swan at the west end of the Serpentine was busking around bullying the other swans. The breeze ruffled his feathers.
The artificial island in the Long Water made for swans to nest on had fallen to bits after the destructive birds had ripped out the reeds that held the surface together. Now it's being repaired with tons of gravel, which should be sufficiently swanproof.
I'm not sure even gravel would stop a swan in a destructive mood.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what technique Grebes use to fool Coots. Granted, fooling a Coot must be quite easy, but holding on to a Coot nest in the face of determined Coot retaking attempts must be quite a feat.
I always love hearing Blue Tits, to bright and powerful and spunky for their size.
I've seen a pair of grebes get a Coot off its nest. One went each side of the nest, and they said 'Nyeeeeghhh' alternately until the Coot lost its cool and dashed at one of them. In the water a grebe has the advantage, so the grebes chased it off and occupied the nest. This was only one encounter, of course, and holding on to the nest is another matter, but grebes do sometimes manage to exhaust the Coot's persistent attempts to reclaim the nest.
DeleteThat peregrine is carrying a food item - looks like part of a starling?
ReplyDeleteYou've had better success seeing them than I have. I've been trying for 80-90 minute stints between about 1.45 and 3.30 the last several days, but seen very little despite what ought to have been pretty decent conditions for soaring. But for your reports I'd have thought they were staying close to the third building of their "triangle territory".
Could be. It's not a clear picture. The Peregrines are definitely hunting over the east end of Hyde Park at present, and within your afternoon time frame, and constantly leaving and returning to the tower. I only visit the Metropole Hilton hotel occasionally and haven't been near Trellick Tower for months, so I can't say anything about their movements overall.
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