One of the Long-Tailed Tits nesting in the Rose Garden collected a spider web from a climbing rose.
There's another Long-Tailed Tit nest in a bramble patch near the Italian Garden. The tits arriving at the nest pause on a hawthorn tree and have a good look around to make sure no predator is watching before diving into the brambles.
While I was photographing here, the local Blue Tit saw me and flew over to collect several pine nuts.
Although Great Tits are very common and all the males are singing at the moment, they're hard to film because they move around constantly when singing.
A pair of Carrion Crows sat comfortably side by side in a tree near the leaf yard.
A Magpie preened its mate.
The Black Swan, following a male Mute Swan as usual, made a Black Swan display and call, something that the other swans simply don't understand.
The swans nesting in the reed bed near the Diana fountain have now smashed down a large area of reeds, and this one was reducing the last bit of cover that screens the nest site from the path.
The big boss swan at the west end of the Serpentine spends much of his time chasing the other swans to establish his dominance. There is an equally dominant swan at the east end of the lake, which killed a rival last year. So far the two have maintained an uneasy truce.
Away from the turmoil, another swan had a good wash.
A Lesser Black-Backed Gull enjoyed a wash and a preen and a flap in the Diana memorial fountain.
A strong wind raised waves on the Serpentine. But being bucketed about didn't stop a Coot gathering twigs for its nest.
The Red-Crested Pochard and his Mallard mate were looking for food in the wind-blown debris on the Long Water.
Two Chinook helicopters flew over the cupolas and pinnacles of the Mandarin Oriental hotel, a building of 1882 by Archer and Green in the full splendour of the Streaky Bacon style. This is a variant of the eclectic Queen Anne Revival (aka Pont Street Dutch) style distinguished by horizontal courses of white stone contrasting with the red brick.
Delightful Long-tailed Tit captures-it is amazing how many spider webs they collect to line their intricate nest.
ReplyDeleteGreat to see the Black Swan giving his call even if it is an incomprehensible foreign language to the Mute Swans!
The spider web is for the main structure of the nest, combined with lichen and moss. It's lined with little feathers stuck in barb first.
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures of the Chinooks! Modern technology side by side with good old reliable traditional buildings.
ReplyDeleteIt makes my heart ache seeing the Black Swan. It it trying to make itself understood so badly, and no one seems to know its language.
I would love to put windows in that top cupola and sit there in a comfortable revolving chair surveying the world.
DeleteYes, it's very sad watching the lonely Black Swan trying to make itself understood. I did talk to Hugh Smith about taking it to St James's Park to be with the other Black Swans, but he thought it wouldn't work.