Friday 16 April 2021

A Goldcrest flitted about in the birch trees near the Dell.

A Chaffinch sang its alternative single-note song, which is called the 'rain song' though in fact they can sing it at any time, rain or shine.

A Long-Tailed Tit perched on a rose bush in the Rose Garden. There are two Long-Tailed Tit nests here and a third one probably just outside the east end of the enclosure.

The male Mistle Thrush of the pair near the Albert Memorial sang his rather dull song -- the same voice as a Blackbird but with no imagination.

A Chiffchaff is building a nest in a bramble patch on Buck Hill.

As usual, the local pair of Blue Tits turned up to be fed.

There were at least two Blackcaps near the leaf yard.

A Robin was framed by new horse chestnut leaves.

One of the young Grey Herons on the island flapped its wings. The flight feathers are coming through now, but it will be a while before they are airworthy.

Feeding the herons on the bridge has made them dangerously blasé about traffic. The middle one avoided death by inches when a passer-by diverted it into the road and a large Mercedes had to come to a screeching halt.

The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull and his mate rested on the roof of the Dell restaurant.

A Mute Swan enjoyed a furious wash.

A dog got more than it bargained for when its stupid owner threw its ball into the Serpentine. Maybe the dog learned its lesson, but owners are incorrigible and very aggressive when challenged.

Here are the Egyptian goslings who had the blond father. The new stepfather who has thrown him out is in the foreground at the beginning of the video. The blond male is recovering but he won't get his family back.

More family strife: the Red-Crested Pochard shot out of the Italian Garden and came down some distance away at Peter Pan. The pale-fronted Mallard who separated him from his Mallard mate had flown in and attacked him.

An intent stare from a Tufted drake at Peter Pan.

Ahmet Amerikali took this picture in Southwark Park. A Mallard defends her ducklings from a Lesser Black-Backed Gull. She had 19 ducklings after taking over a brood abandoned by its original mother.

7 comments:

  1. this is very cool, I'll be visiting Kensington gardens tomorrow to try and hand feed some birds, at the top of my feeding list is Jay's Nuthatches and robins, where would be the best place to find them in the park?

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    1. Jays and Robins usually have to know you well before they'll come to your hand. Nuthatches are seriously difficult. Best to start with easy Great Tits in the South Flower Walk between the crossing at Queen's Gate and the Albert Memorial.

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    2. Cool I'll keep that in mind for when I arrive, also I'm a park regular well I used to be until you know what happened, I used to come once a week but hopefully I can at least try, I might see you soon

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  2. Will the step father care for the goslings as much as they were his own? I thought only females adpopted other's chicks.

    I like the simple Chaffinch song. Why is it called "rain song"? Because it forecasted rain, or because it sounds like rain?

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    1. I was expecting him to attack and kill them, but at least he hasn't done that. He is attentive to the mother and that is as much as you can expect.

      The 'rain song' is popularly supposed to predict rain, but there seems to be no basis at all for this belief (except of course that it will always rain eventually).

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  3. You're lucky to still have Chaffinches! Now our wintering birds have departed there seem to be none around my regular haunts. Seem to be reasonable numbers of Greenfinch now at some sites (though none in the garden) & seem to be reasonable numbers of Blackbirds again.

    Good to see the young Herons getting stronger. I suspect that Mallard is going to lose at least some of that extended brood. Earlier this week on our local (Ealing) wildlife Facebook group somebody saw 3 Jays trying to rob a Coot nest but came unstuck. 2 of the Jays got wet but escaped but the unlucky third was held under the water until it drowned by one of the parents.

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    1. We have a fair number of resident Chaffinches, though I have seen fewer in recent weeks and the family group of 8 or so at the bridge has broken up.

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