Monday 26 July 2021

Both Little Owls were calling north of their nest tree, but it took some time to get a glimpse of one in an oak tree.


I thought I heard a Sparrow chirping in the bushes near the bridge, which would have been an event considering how rare they are in central London, but it turned out to be a female Chaffinch.


There was also a Blackbird lurking in the shadows.


The young Carrion Crows at the Italian Garden are at a halfway stage, with their dull juvenile feathers being replaced by glossy adult ones and their blue eyes turning brown.


One is still having a difficult time shelling a peanut, but the other has cracked it.


A Robin was singing again behind the Lido after their midsummer silence, though I didn't get a picture. This is Mark Williams's favourite Robin in St James's Park.


Two Grey Heron chicks are now more or less visible in the latest nest on the Serpentine island. They have been making quite a racket for some time.


A Cormorant jumped on to a post on the Long Water to dry its wings. There were plenty of unoccupied posts, but it was more fun to scare away a Lesser Black-Backed Gull.


The youngest Great Crested Grebe chick on the Long Water begged loudly, looked under the surface for its parent to appear, and was given a fish.


The Coot nesting in the Italian Garden fountain has just hatched two chicks. Probably there are more to come.


Young Egyptian Geese rushed about flapping in a so far unsuccessful attempt to take to the air. They'll manage soon.



Some of the moulting Mute Swans are now airworthy again, and were trying out their new flight feathers.


A Tapered Drone Fly (Eristalis pertinax) browsed on a ragwort flower.


While I was photographing this Red Admiral butterfly in the reed bed by the Diana fountain ...


... a young Reed Warbler appeared for a moment.

4 comments:

  1. Even their piping begging is adorable to hear. Everything about grebes is utterly lovable.

    I hope we'll get to hear singing Robins again soon. I miss birdsong so much it's not even funny.

    I wonder by what stages the young Crow's eye will turn dark brown: will it be changing colour little by little, with patches of brown side by side the blue, or does the blue turn more and more muddled until it becomes brown?

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    1. The large original of the crow picture shows that its eyes are changing evenly, and are now an intermediate grey -- much the same as that of humans' grey eyes.

      I wish I could make larger pictures available, and in particular higher resolution videos, as YouTube smashes the HD videos I shoot. I did try using Vimeo videos for a while and they were much better to look at, but the idiocy of their organisation was such that I had to abandon them. So we are stuck with what's on offer.

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  2. Around here House Sparrows are pretty common whereas outside the winter period Chaffinches are like hen's teeth!

    Nice shot of the Red Admiral. I must be pedantic & say the Dronefly is on Ragwort not Ragweed which is a totally different plant. The latter is a North American species which can occur here as an alien-sometimes as a bird seed contaminant (I had one in my garden once) & is a problem in the US as it causes misery to hay fever sufferers.

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    1. Sorry, that's the second time I've accidentally typed 'ragweed' for 'ragwort'. I did know, and it was pure carelessness. There is a small but persistent colony of Chaffinches near the bridge, and I usually see and here them in this area -- but occasionally also elsewhere in the park, so they are not rare here.

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