Tuesday 20 April 2021

In an old chestnut tree by the leaf yard rival Wood Pigeons whacked each other with their wings, probably males fighting over a female that was also in the tree.

A Blackcap sang.

A Blue Tit perched in some improbably pink cherry blossom in the Rose Garden.

One of the Robins in the shrubbery at the foot of Buck Hill is now quite confident, and will come out to take a pine nut from the path.

A Jay pecked at a piece of very stale bread that someone had dumped in the shrubbery below the Triangle car park. It left it for its mate to have a go. Both were pleased to come out and get peanuts instead.

This bit of shrubbery is of interest now because Neil has seen a black fox in it, though it vanished before he could get a picture. There is what seems to be a fox's earth here.

The young Grey Herons are still mostly keeping to their nest, and I have only had one report of one seen out on a branch.

They are too comfortable to be adventurous, with regular meals provided by their doting parents. But one of the much younger chicks in the second nest was already out on a branch, flapping its still mostly unfeathered wings. No picture of this because it could only be dimly seen through the leaves.

A pair of Coots have somehow managed to attach a nest to one of the posts to which the tern raft on the Long Water is moored.

The Black Swan gazed adoringly at her Mute mate.

The swans nesting at the east end of the Lido now have six eggs. It will be more than a month fraught with danger from foxes before they hatch.

Swans are very fond of young willow leaves, and all the trees around the lake get neatly trimmed off to the maximum height a swan can reach.

Only one of the three broods of eight Egyptian goslings on the Serpentine is intact. The others are down to seven.

The Mallard is down to four, but is keeping them very close and they still have a chance.

A Mandarin drake was reflected in the still water at the Vista.

A visit to St James's Park revealed surprisingly that there are now seven White Pelicans, six on their rock ...

... and one on the shore.

One of the Black Swans is nesting in a reed bed.

2 comments:

  1. I hope the Black Swan's chicks won't be in danger from the Pelicans. I adore Pelicans, but they are to be feared.

    How is the Black Swan - Mute Swan couple getting on? She seems to be fonder of him than he is of her.

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    Replies
    1. The danger to Black Swan cygnets in St James's Park comes from the Mute Swans, which attack and kill them.

      On our own lake, I have seen the male Mute Swan lose patience with the Black Swan for continually shadowing him.

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