Thursday 9 September 2021

The Hobbies are still in the park, though they will be off to Africa soon. Tom and I got a distant sight of one this morning, and yesterday Virginia got fine views of them near the greenhouses.

If I read this picture rightly, it's a young Hobby just beginning to get its adult red underpants.

The male Little Owl was back in the nest tree, though it took two visits to find him.

The young Grey Wagtail was on a rock at the bottom of the Dell waterfall, here seen from the top.

A young Blackbird foraged under a tree on the lawn near the Dell.

A Robin perched on a fallen tree beside the Long Water.

A Blue Tit looked out from the leaves near the bridge.

The young Grey Herons are finally down from the nest on the island. One stood on the shore nearby.

A heron caught a small carp in the Italian Garden.

A young Herring Gull dismantled quite a large crayfish on the Mute Swans' nesting island.

A Coot pulled up a crayfish and held on to it in spite of harassment from a Black-Headed Gull and another Coot.

The Great Crested Grebe family cruised down the Long Water.

A swan in the Italian Garden saw another in the lake below and both went into a threat posture.

A strange event on the Serpentine. A female Mandarin closely followed an Egyptian Goose along the Serpentine, out of the water and up the bank. There were no other Mandarins around, so maybe it was just lonely. Update: For at least a partial explanation, see Virginia's comment below.

A Female Wigeon browsed on algae on the Long Water. We only see them occasionally in the park.

A Lesser Emperor dragonfly -- a new species for the park -- caught a Common Wasp and perched on a twig to chew it up in a leisurely way.

Tom sent a picture from Rainham Marshes of another insect, a bumblebee, falling prey to a Spotted Flycatcher ...

... and also of a Cattle Egret. The cattle at the Marshes have still not got the idea that the egrets will eat their pests, and shake the birds off when they try to land on their back.

13 comments:

  1. That mandarin female is a darling I call her Minnie(aka the Minx) She has been hanging around with one particular Egyptian goose who I feed daily. They were at the Round Pond together but have moved to the Serpentine to escape all the squabbling amongst the new arrivals of Egyptian geese. She is very feisty and inspite of the risk of being trampled by hungry geese, she runs around and nips their bottoms!!!

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    1. Thanks for the extra information. I was wondering what was going on. But it's still strange. I remember that there was a Tufted Duck that attached itself to a pair of Mallards a while ago.

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  2. Good to know the 2 juvenile hobbies are doing well. One of these juvs is the bird that I realeased on Sunday 22nd August after it was picked up 3 times over a period of one and half days.I first received the bird on the 18th August. Then kept it so it could put on weight and it also could get valuable exercise in my large enclosure. When released it landed in a plane tree at a good height. After about half an hour one of the adults perched right next to it, I was extremely happy. Went back next day and saw all 4 birds together,2 juvs plus 2 adults. Nice to know they are still OK.Dave

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    1. Thanks for the update. Hope the two will be picked up by the adults and shown the way to Africa.

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    2. I recall on Hampstead Heath several years ago a adult Hobby and a juvenile where still there at start of October!

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    3. I heard House Martins this morning near their nest site in the Kuwait embassy, so not all the migrants have gone.

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  3. Glad to see the young rescued Hobby is doing so fine. I had been meaning to ask about it (sometimes I keep mum for fear of receiving bad news).

    I love the story of Minnie. Hoping to read and see more of her!

    I don't think I thank Ralph often enough for daily finding the Little Owl for us. He spends so much time and effort just doing that.

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    1. It's a great pleasure finding the Little Owl, and absolutely makes my day.

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  4. Ralph-lovely shots of Hobby & Grey Wagtail.

    When I viewed your video of a "Migrant Hawker" my jaw dropped! I'm not sure why you thought it was one as it has none of the features of that species. It's something much more exciting & I suspect a new species for the park & probably inner London-it's a Lesser Emperor. Note the blue saddle, brown thorax with green eyes. Though probably breeding in a few places in the UK now, this is going to be a migrant. Well done for this great find! Thinking I have a vague recollection of a possible at the Round Pond a few years back amongst the Red-veined Darters, but wasn't refound the next day.

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    1. Thank you very much for the correction -- how exciting. I've amended the records. This is a species I've never seen before.

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  5. Forgot to ask Ralph-is this Kensington Gardens or Hyde Park for the records?

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    1. It was in Kensington Gardens -- west side of Long Water between Peter Pan and the Italian Garden.

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