After several days without a sighting, a sunny afternoon brought out the female Little Owl in the horse chestnut tree near the Serpentine Gallery.
Half a dozen people were watching her, so she was a bit restless.
The male Peregrine perched on the crane in Knightsbridge for a few minutes.
The Rose-Ringed Parakeets may be a pest, but they have the grace to prefer British apples.
They are also partial to North American catalpa beans.
A Robin perched on a twig in the Dell.
Mark Williams got a fine shot of the Coal Tit in the Flower Walk taking a pine nut from his hand.
I only got Great Tits there today, but this one looked smart in a copper beech.
The two Great Crested Grebe chicks on the Long Water are still quite little, but they already have flight feathers. However, it will be at least another month before they try to use them.
The big and very violent male Mute Swan east of the Lido chased off a rival.
The pair of Egyptian Geese at the Henry Moore sculpture were walking about side by side. They may be planning to breed again, with their usual lack of timing.
I said yesterday that Blondie, that most sedentary of Egyptians, seemed to be moving around more. Today she proved me wrong by being exactly in her usual place next to the Dell restaurant, a hundred yards from where she was hatched.
A Shoveller enjoyed a wash by the island. This is a drake still not fully emerged from eclipse.
Another picture by Mark, and a remarkable one: he saw a Hummingbird Hawk Moth in the Flower Walk. I've never seen one in the park.
My insects today were a male Migrant Hawker dragonfly on a stem below the Italian Garden ...
... and a Crane Fly on Buck Hill.
That sticker should have been peeled off, the littering and choking hazard surely outweighs its value in indicating a British apple to the parakeet.
ReplyDeleteI particularly loved Mark Williams's Blue Tit taking a pine nut from the hand from a couple of years ago, and other people did too. Jim
The parakeet was eating carefully round the label. I don't think there was any danger.
DeleteHaving a tiny Coal Tit land trustingly on your fingertip is an extraordinary experience.
Lovely to get a Hummingbird Hawkmoth. I've had one in the garden this summer. I do get one most but not every year, but only one year more than one. Obviously a few insect migrants turning up with a Painted Lady yesterday. A few weeks since I last saw one.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't realised that Painted Ladies migrated to and from Africa. What a feat. I was looking at it with an American and he said it reminded him of a small Monarch. I don't see much resemblance, but they both belong to the Nymphalidae, so evidently migration runs in the family.
DeleteAll the way from Africa? Good grief!
ReplyDeletePs first-class shot of the dragonfly :)
Mark
I was also astonished to learn this.
DeleteLovely picture of the dragonfly! (isn't it a wonderful name? Dragon + fly).
ReplyDeleteShe may not relish her high number of admirers, but she is so beautiful she deserves to have a large following!
The Little Owls do seem to get used to their admirers after a while. The last generation of owls completely ignored me and I had to call to them to make them look down.
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