The Mistle Thrush chicks at the Round Pond are now looking quite grown up, with only a trace of juvenile down.
One shifted about in the nest while a parent repeatedly buzzed a Carrion Crow until it flew away.
A crow tried to sneak up on the Egyptian Goose family on the Serpentine and snatch one of their eight goslings, but was spotted and chased off just in time.
A couple of minutes after their scare, the Egyptian goslings were grazing peacefully with their parents under a willow beside the Serpentine.
There have been no further losses. The other pair on the Serpentine still have three ...
... and the pair at the Henry Moore sculpture have four.
The male Mute Swan whose mate is nesting at the east side of the Lido chased off a rival. This ferocious bird is to be taken seriously, as he killed another swan last year.
The Coot nesting under the willow near the bridge stared suspiciously at a Great Crested Grebe. Grebes have a habit of stealing twigs from Coots' nests.
An unexpected picture of a twig being used: a squirrel carried one up a tree to add to a drey. I though that these winter shelters were just heaps of dead leaves, but it seems that some structure is needed to hold them together.
The Grey Heron chicks on the island were shifting around restlessly in the nest. Soon they will start climbing out on to branches.
Neil got a video of the falconer with the Harris Hawk who visits the mega-expensive block of flats grandly called Number One Hyde Park twice a week to scare pigeons off the balconies. The pair of wild Peregrines only two hundred yards up the road don't seem to be considered frightening enough.
A Great Spotted Woodpecker climbed a horse chestnut tree in the Rose Garden, looking for insects in the budding leaves.
A male Chaffinch perched in a treetop ...
... and there was a female inside a holly tree near the bridge.
Neil got a good picture of a Greenfinch on the ground.
The first Comma butterfly I've seen this year, in the Rose Garden.
A Wren perched on a twig at the foot of Buck Hill ...
... and a Robin stood on a log.
There was a Snakeshead Fritillary just behind the railings.
I don't know if it is my internet connection acting up, but the two goslings videos cannot be viewed, not even directly on your youtube channel. It says "this video isn't available". The rest I can see fine.
ReplyDeleteThe young Mistle Thrush is so grown up now! Its parents take excellent care of it. They are such brave and strong birds for ther rather not impressive size.
Same trouble here with the videos
ReplyDeleteApologies to both and all. For some reason YouTube decided to change their listing from public to private. This happened some time after I had put them up, and without changing their listing as public on my channel. I've changed their listing from public to private and back again, and they seem OK now.
DeleteUnusually I have a question on something you didn't see Ralph.
ReplyDeletePeople seem to think that Frogs and Toads are declining, when was the last time you saw one in Hyde Park? In my small surburban garden I have newts but not frogs.
When the gardeners were clearing the way for building the children's dipping pond they found several small frogs and a newt under a pile of dead wood. I've occasionally seen a frog in the park, probably accidentally dropped by a heron. One was alive, and I threw it over the fence into into the pond in the Ranger's Lodge garden.
DeleteExcellent news thank you very much
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