Tuesday 30 March 2021

The pair of Mistle Thrushes nesting near the Round Pond already have chicks, though they aren't visible at the moment in a well protected nest. A parent collected and delivered worms. At the end of this video you can hear what sounds like a Great Spotted Woodpecker calling. It wasn't -- it was a Starling doing a very good imitation. It fooled several people including me.


But there was a real Green Woodpecker at the leaf yard ...


... and a Blue Tit carrying moss to its nest ...


... and a Starling at its hole with twigs.


A Chifchaff sang from a treetop beside the Long Water.


A Robin sunbathed among dead leaves.


Both the Grey Heron chicks looked out of the nest while their parents were away finding fish for them.


Another heron yawned, probably because it was hot. I don't think these enormously patient birds get bored.


The seven Egyptian goslings by the Henry Moore sculpture are growing fast. Their parents keep them in a corner of the enclosure so that they can make a quick escape through the gateway and into cover.


The eight on the Serpentine are in good order ...


... and so are the four with the blond father. Here is one of the blond goslings.


But I haven't seen the single gosling on the other side of the lake for several days, and fear the gulls have got it.

Both the dominant swans on the Long Water were at the nesting island, and the male was clearing rivals from his territory, a long task because he has let the invasion go too far. Things seem to be moving at last.


Both the swans nesting behind the boathouse railings were there, but no nest has ever succeeded here.


The sunshine gave a good view of Tufted Ducks swimming under water.


There was a rabbit in the Henry Moore enclosure. Someone has seen two rabbits, so there's a chance that the population will recover.


A Peacock butterfly perched on a leaf beside the Long Water.


There were also several Brimstones, but these are almost impossible to photograph because they never settle.

6 comments:

  1. Looks like a green woodpecker??

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    1. Yes, sorry, wasn't looking at the picture when I wrote that. Changed.

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  2. Starlings get me every time.

    Once one of them led us in a merry goose chase by imitating an oriole, the little bastard.

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    1. This Starling was also imitating the song of the Mistle Thrush in the same tree, which was most confusing when you could see both the thrushes somewhere else.

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  3. Certainly a good day for butterflies yesterday. I had good numbers of both Peacock & Brimstone plus single Comma & Small white. Glorious day.

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    1. And another fine day today with luck, before the return of winter. Someone saw a Comma here and there were glimpses of several small white butterflies though they might have been female Brimstones.

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