Tuesday 2 March 2021

A Dunnock searched for food in the woodland at the foot of Buck Hill. They eat eat insects and other invertebrates as well as seeds.


A male Chaffinch ...


... and his mate looked down from a yew tree.


One of the Long-Tailed Tits in the Rose Garden collected spider webs in the row of pleached lime trees at the edge of the garden.


There was a Greenfinch in the holly near the bridge, but it was mostly hidden by leaves and I only got a poor shot of it.



A female Pied Wagtail hunted insects in the enclosure of the Diana fountain.


They move so fast that only a lucky still picture shows them catching anything -- in this case a midge, of which plenty are out already.


A pair of Jackdaws examined the hole in the plane tree near the Albert Memorial where I have already seen Stock Doves and Rose-Ringed Parakeets, so the site is much in demand. Previously it has been used by Mandarins.


A Carrion Crow eyed a daffodil.


The Grey Heron parent had just flown out of the nest, leaving the chick alone. Although growing fast, it may still be at risk from Carrion Crows.


It was changeover time on the nest at the west end of the island.


In the next tree a Cormorant perched on a thin branch. I would have liked to see it land here.


The male of the pair of Egyptian Geese at the Henry Moore sculpture was alone on the grass. It seems his mate is nesting already.


A Mallard perched in a tree beside the Long Water, looking a bit out of place.


A Red Crested Pochard shooed away a Gadwall at the Vista.

4 comments:

  1. I took would have liked to see how the Cormorant got there. And the Mallard too.

    I wonder if the Crow is considering how to best eat the daffodil, or it just likes the pretty colour.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think all corvids like bright coloured objects, so the look was one of genuine aesthetic appreciation.

      Delete
  2. Good to see you have both Chaffinch & Greenfinch there. In January I struggled to see Greenfinch locally though there are a few more now, but no longer a garden visitor. Had quite a few wintering Chaffinch but they seem to have gone now. Even Goldfinches are less common than previous years which seemed to be backed up by the BTO Garden Bird survey results.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Greenfinch population here has picked up over the past year. I think they have acquired herd immunity from the respiratory virus, as they were bound to do since they don't have a government buggering up the natural process.

      My Dunnock video in this post has a loud Goldfinch overhead. But mostly I find them in the streets on television aerials.

      Delete