Sunday 30 May 2021

The House Martins are now nesting in the cornice of the Kuwaiti Embassy just outside Hyde Park. Several of the plaster roses were occupied. The recent rain will have provided mud for repairing last year's nests, which are invisible on top of the rose petals.

The male Grey Wagtail was busy catching insects in the Italian Garden.

A female Blackcap carried a caterpillar to a nest in the scrub at the east end of the Serpentine.

Just a pair of ordinary Feral Pigeons on a post at Peter Pan. The darker 'Blue Chequer' pattern is commoner among the pigeons here than the original grey of their wild Rock Dove ancestors.

The second brood of two young Grey Herons are just about ready to leave the nest and start flying around. This one had flapped and scrambled up to the top of a tree.

I've only seen one Great Crested Grebe chick on the Long Water during the past week. Fish of the right size for feeding chicks are scarce at the moment, and the parents have done well to keep one.

The Coots on the wire basket at the bridge have also lost a chick and are down to three. A Herring Gull was perched on a nearby post looking as if it intended to grab another.

Coots can make nests out of almost anything. This one is in a reed bed on the Long Water, so it's made of reed stems.

The Mute Swans from the nest east of the Lido are now down to three cygnets. One rode in the safety of its mother's back.

The pair nesting at the boathouse still seem to have only two eggs, but the female has started incubating them.

Three swans stormed down the lake. They are starting to moult and will all be flightless soon. Moulting makes them even worse tempered than usual.

Geese are arriving on the lake to moult in a safe place, including these two Canada x Greylag hybrids which I don't remember seeing before.

Two families of Greylag Geese were at the Lido. They have had a good year for breeding here, and even more so in St James's Park where there is an absolute mob of goslings. Yet the Canada Geese have hardly bred at all. I have no idea what has caused the difference.

This is the blond male Egyptian Goose who was exiled from his family by an intruding male when he was recovering from an injury. But two of his three goslings have inherited his colour and are doing well.

A Blue and Yellow Macaw was being taken out for a bit of fresh air. This is not one of the pair of Hyacinth Macaws which are seen here quite often.

A video from Rainham Marshes by Norbert Jakab. Bearded Tits are shy and generally hidden in the reeds where they live, so it was interesting to see a young one climbing around.

4 comments:

  1. The jilted Egyptian Goose's young were maybe lucky to survive the takeover, were they still dependent on their mother? Nature can be so uncompromising. Jim

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    1. Very surprised to see that too. Their stepfather was genuinely protective.

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  2. Very happy to see the House Martins safely back at the Kuwaiti embassy.

    Sad about the missing cygnets and the little Grebe chick, though. It's like a carnage field, sometimes.

    I hope the Macaw is good-tempered. Someone once described Macaws as murderous toddlers armed with screwdrivers.

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    1. Yes, I've also seen the description 'Like two-year-olds with bolt cutters fixed to their face'. The macaw was being transferred from one person's shoulder to another, and seemed quite happy to accept the disturbance. It was also in the middle of a crowd and apparently didn't mind. But no doubt they have moods.

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