The Reed Warbler family on the Long Water are now quite mobile, and I found them on the other side of the lake from yesterday.
I think there's only one here though there are at least two, maybe three, on the Serpentine. One of these could be heard in the trees at the back of the Lido, so they are moving around as well.
There was also a family of Wrens by the Long Water, and I managed to get a very distant shot of one of the fledglings.
A family of Blue Tits was dashing around in the top of a horse chestnut tree near the bridge. This is one of the young ones. They were probably feeding on the larvae of Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner moths, which have already damaged the leaves as you can see.
The Coal Tit in the Flower Walk will allow itself to be photographed if you keep feeding it pine nuts.
A Carrion Crow had a wash before joining a group harassing the pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull and trying to get a bit of the pigeon. One of them dared to peck the gull's tail.
These young Carrion Crows in the Diana fountain enclosure have now learnt how to shell peanuts for themselves -- and also how to grab them off their parents.
A Cormorant took over the little island in the Long Water ...
... expelling the Grey Heron, which had to go and fish from a branch some way along the shore.
One of the Coots nesting in the Italian Garden was turning over the eggs.
This is the third of the three Canada x Greylag hybrid geese on the Serpentine -- I photographed the other two yesterday.
The elderly and arthritic hybrid goose seems to have died. Sad, but it had a good and long life.
Tufted Ducks are normally very quiet, but this pair made quite a noise before setting off on a flight together.
There were two Mandarin drakes in eclipse on the Long Water. They look very like females now, but note their red bills.
A Red-Crested Pochard on the Serpentine was most of the way into eclipse.
Mark Williams got a pretty picture of a Six-Spot Burnet Moth on a clover flower on the east side of the Long Water.
I have also seen Cinnabar Moths flying here, but so far none has stopped to be photographed.
There were two ladybirds on Globe Thistles in the Rose Garden. One was the inevitable Harlequin which has become an invasive pest ...
... but the other was a good old-fashioned British Seven-Spot Ladybird.
It's odd that the Seven-Spot Ladybird has a total of seven spots (one shared between two wing cases) but the Six-Spot Burnet Moth has two sets of six, one on each side.
This fountain in the Rose Garden with a statue of the goddess Diana is now called the 'Huntress Fountain' to distinguish it from the circular drain that is a memorial to the princess. It dates from 1906 and was made by Countess Feodora Gleichen, the first woman member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors. The Art Nouveau base is unusual for London, where there is little of this style. Feral Pigeons appreciate it for other reasons.
Oh, I haven't seen one of those Ladybirds for ages!
ReplyDeleteDoubtless pigeons have the right idea, not only about art, but also about life itself.
Crows are such naughty and foolhardy birds, to aggravate the fearsome Pigeon Killer so.
Pigeons have decided tastes in art. I've never seen one on the Henry Moore.
DeleteIt must be fun being a crow, as long as you aren't fussy about your food.
Good to see the Tufted Duck take off. I find they're most vocal when romance is in the air.
ReplyDeleteI've seen very few Harlequins this year & not many last year. In contrast large numbers of 7-spots. There was an article in British Wildlife last year saying the former are now being targeted by a number of parasitic flies, wasps & fungi, so numbers are being controlled. I remember when there seemed to be swarms of them-especially pre-hibernation time on a sunny day in late September/early October.
Very good news, in a ruthless way, about the ladybirds. The change is happening slower here. That's the first native ladybird I've seen in the park this year, and all the more welcome for that.
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