Monday 1 February 2021

This is the first video I've got this year of a Blackbird singing, though he struggled to be heard over the noise of the traffic crossing the bridge.


There are definitely more Blackbirds to be seen than a couple of months ago. There was another in the Rose Garden ...


... and one under the young deodar on the lawn between there and the Dell. This area is ankle deep in wet mud, and it was quite difficult to get this modest picture.


There was a Robin higher up in the same tree ...


... and another on a sprinkler in the Dell ...


... where as usual Long-Tailed Tits were visiting the feeders.


A Pied Wagtail flew over several times chattering, but the only place it settled was on the edge of the Dell restaurant terrace, where I got a very distant shot of it just clear enough to show that it had picked up a larva.


A Grey Heron was busy adding twigs to the nest at the west end of the island.


Another perched on the remains of the Mute Swans' nesting island in the Long Water. The herons are looking their best at this time of year.


The pair of Herring Gulls at the east end of the Serpentine did the 'great call' and exchanged affectionate moans, and the male nattered irritably at a Mute Swan that he didn't want on his territory.


A Black-Headed Gull won a bit of bread and was chased by others, two Common Gulls and a young Herring Gull.


Two Cormorants preened on the big poplar that fell into the Long Water a few years ago. Health and safety regulations make it next to impossible to remove fallen trees from the lake, which is annoying for the park keepers who want a tidy park but just fine for birds.


A Great Crested Grebe rested on the Serpentine. You can see that he is a male by the wide V shape of his fine new crest.


The remains of a Paper Wasp nest in a dead Chinese Privet tree at the northwest corner of the bridge. However, the plentiful wasps that visited the fatsia bush just down the slope from here were all Common Wasps.

4 comments:

  1. I've seen cats nattering like that when they want to swat at something but for some reason cannot.

    So happy that there are so many Blackbirds of a sudden. Congratulations for the first singing Blackbird: the worst of the year is beginning to be over.

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    1. We're still well below normal levels with Blackbirds. Few winter migrants have arrived; the same with Mistle Thrushes. I hope this is due to relatively mild weather in northern Europe and not to some catastrophe.

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  2. They're all in my garden, highest count is 12 in half a tennis court, but I reckon there's a few I keep missing!!

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    Replies
    1. Remarkable. There really is a general shortage this year.

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