Sunday 14 March 2021

A Dunnock sang in a tree beside the Long Water. A Robin the the same tree answered it.


The male of the pair of Nuthatches near Queen's Gate can often be heard singing but is usually high in the trees and hard to photograph. Here are a few brief clips.


A Great Tit at the bridge came out on a yew twig covered with small brown flowers.


The Long-Tailed Tits in the Rose Garden were still busy building their nest.


This isn't a good picture, but it's the only one I've ever got of one of the elusive Goldcrests in the yew near Peter Pan. The tree is large and set back from the fence, and in heavy shadow.


A Starling ate an apple someone had put out for the Rose-Ringed Parakeets.


A Black-Headed Gull with one leg stood on the edge of the Serpentine. They seem to be able to cope perfectly well, and there was a one-legged gull that came back to the park year after year and became quite a pet with visitors.


Sad to say, both the nesting Grey Herons have lost their chicks. I though the older chick was big enough to be safe from predators, but all kinds of other accidents are waiting to happen. After a few days away, both pairs of herons have returned to their nests, and will probably try again. A couple of years ago one pair didn't manage to raise a chick till the third try.



A Great Crested Grebe poked around the concrete edge of the Serpentine, looking for small lurking water creatures. It was probably finding water snails, which collect on every submerged surface.


It gave me a suspicious stare, but carried on.


The big messy Coot nest on the Long Water has now been decorated with snack packets.


A Herring Gull stared down at the nest on the post at Peter Pan wondering when dinner would be ready. I don't think this pair of Coots have even got as far as laying eggs.


The Mandarin pair were still at the Vista.


A Mute Swan on the Serpentine had a wash, always a vigorous and splashy affair.

2 comments:

  1. Poor unfortunate chicks. We had so much hope for the larger one... what could have caused it? It was almost as large as its parent, poor, poor thing.

    The Dunnock and the Robin make a very pretty duo, but nowhere as pretty as that gorgeous closeup of the Grebe.

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    1. I simply don't know what happened to the heron chicks. It seems to have been more or less simultaneous.

      I'd never have a beauty contest with birds. Each one is beautiful in its own way.

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