Sunday 25 July 2021

The Little Owls were calling but hard to see in the leaves. Eventually I found the female partly visible in a plane tree.


I think the pair's nest tree is here, and that this is the hole, facing west. You can see signs of recent wear on the edge.


For those without access to Google Maps, the nest tree is an old sweet chestnut sandwiched between a lime on the north side and an oak on the south, 70 yards east of  the Speke obelisk.

The usual Coal Tit was in the Flower Walk ...


... along with a Long-Tailed Tit.


The Jay pair and their young one followed me down the edge of the Long Water.


An adult trying to eat a peanut on a branch was annoyed first by gravity and then by the hungry fledgling.


The eldest Great Crested Grebe chick on the Long Water is usually alone, and seems to be finding enough fish to keep itself going. This is the hardest time for young grebes, when they are newly independent.


The youngest chick was preening, copying its parent's actions.


A pair of Moorhens ate each other's fleas and lice.


The Coot teenagers at Peter Pan are still spending much of their time on the branch where their parents put them for safety when they were little.


The Black Swan is definitely getting blacker as it gradually replaces its juvenile feathers with fully black ones.


A Black-Headed Gull dunked a crust of stale bread to make it easier to swallow. They are losing the brown heads of their breeding plumage, and will soon have white heads with a slight dark smudge over the ear.


A Small White butterfly perched on a mallow flower.


It started to rain in the afternoon. A Grey Heron ignored it ...


... and a Wood Pigeon found a convenient puddle for drinking and bathing.

2 comments:

  1. I thank God daily for the Little Owl bonanza.

    I broke out laughing with the young Jay pestering its parent. It was such a funny scene, first gravity, then adolescence.

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    Replies
    1. I hope we'll be able to keep sight of those Little Owls. They seem to be much more mobile than the previous lot.

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