The Little Owl flew to a oak tree near the Speke obelisk.
She was too visible in the top of the tree and was soon chased out by a pair of Carrion Crows.
The young Sparrowhawks were calling and flying around, but it was impossible to get a decent picture on a dim drizzly morning.
The fruit in the rowan trees on Buck Hill is almost ripe, and a Rose-Ringed Parakeet was enjoying it.
Their eating habits are messy. They just mumble the fruit and spit it out, so they waste far more than they eat. Let's hope there will be enough left for the autumn arrival of the migrant thrushes.
Feral Pigeons can be quite aggressive. I'm not sure what was going on here, but everyone seemed to hate everyone else.
The solitary Starling at the Lido restaurant was still there, perched on a metal chair.
A Grey Heron stood on the Henry Moore sculpture, a favourite vantage point, getting ruffled by the breeze.
A Lesser Black-Backed Gull saw a crayfish on the shore and picked it up, only to discover that another gull had already hollowed it out, and dropped it in disgust.
The single great Crested Grebe chick at the island took a feather from a parent.
The widowed grebe is still looking sad, but he's not wasting away as bereaved Mute Swans sometimes do. He was busy fishing under a line of pedalos at Bluebird Boats.
The single Coot chick in the Italian Garden fountain wandered around the water lily leaves while a parent brought it food.
The weather improved in the afternoon and there were some insects to brighten up the day. A Common Blue butterfly perched on a leaf.
There were lots of Marmalade Hoverflies. Here is one on a Himalayan Indigo flower ...
... and another on a ridiculously gaudy fuchsia at the Lido restaurant ...
... which also attracted a Common Carder bee.
I saw a young fox today, in the fenced-off area near the Vista where people feed the Parakeets.
ReplyDeleteThere were a few Pochards on the far side of the Vista. Would they be resident birds or early migrants?
I saw and heard the young Sparrowhawks - thanks for the information about them
There are almost certainly two families of foxes on each side of the Long Water. In fact every thicket of any size in the park probably has foxes in it. But they lie up during the day and are not often seen.
DeleteThe Pochards are migrants. We get a good number overwintering here, at least 40 and sometimes more.
Seeing your Sparrowhawk photo, I was out on my patch yesterday morning & had just over an hour in the dry before rain started. As I came through a path in a covert I saw a Sparrowhawk fly low in front of me. As I emerged into the open there were three birds- two juveniles & an adult.
ReplyDeleteCertainly a very autumnal day so you did well getting your insect shots-love the Marmalade Fly one.
Local raptors seem to have done very well this year -- two young each for the Hobbies, Sparrowhawks and Kestrels. Only the Peregrines are holding back but I'm sure that if the soldiers could be persuaded to put up a box on the barracks tower they would have a go. I've seen the pair mating on that ledge.
DeleteWhen I started this blog I never thought I'd get fond of flies, but hoverflies are fascinating, a whole family given over to deception.
Certainly find hoverflies a fascinating group. Some are easy to ID, others very tricky!
ReplyDelete