Monday 1 March 2021

The adult Grey Heron on the nest preened, so the chick did too.


The herons in the nest at the west end of the island are still sitting on eggs.


A Magpie preened in a blossoming tree. This is one of a pair that build a nest every year in a tree beside the Serpentine.


One of the Long-Tailed Tits nesting in the Rose Garden was up in the pergola looking for spider webs, which are the material that gives their nest its strength.


The Dunnock in the Rose Garden was in his usual bush.


A Pied Wagtail perched on the roof of the Lido restaurant, ignoring workmen putting up scaffolding to repair the clock tower.


It seemed odd to see a small Black-Headed Gull chasing a big Herring Gull, so I filmed it.


Great Crested Grebes displayed at the Vista ...


... and the Lido.


This Coot builds a nest on the Mute Swans' nesting island every year, and is not put off by the island now being made of gravel. The swans have never managed to evict the pair.


A pair of swans courted on the grass beside the Serpentine.


Others invaded the Long Water, and the Black Swan was with them. The dominant swan who owns the Long Water was busy at the far end, but he'll chase them off soon.


Blondie the Egyptian Goose is back from her stay in St James's Park.


There was a male Egyptian Goose a few yards up the shore who is probably her new mate.

The female Red-Crested Pochard who is the centre of attention for nine males was at the Vista, surrounded by her admirers.


But the drake who has a Mallard mate paid no attention to the proceedings, and rested under the dead willow tree. He may have forgotten that he is one of them.


The solitary Common Pochard drake was in his usual place beside the bridge, diving for algae and snails.

3 comments:

  1. She looks so put upon and all but resigned to her fate. All that attention for such a shy young lady.
    Sometimes I wonder if birds have individual temperaments and character, such as we do. Perhaps the Black-Headed gull is bold for its species, and the Herring Gull discreet (discretion being the better part of valour).

    The baby Heron looks like a miniature of its parent already.

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    1. Female ducks are rather like female undergraduates when I was at Cambridge (and dinosaurs roamed the earth). There was one for every eight males. Feminism had not made much impact then, and they revelled in the attention they got.

      Earlier you said that a baby heron was something that only a mother could love. Hope you're revising that view.

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    2. I may have been too hasty in my appreciation, yes...

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