Monday 18 October 2021

An atmospheric view of the Serpentine at dawn by David Lacey.


A Robin sang on an arbutus tree in the Rose Garden ...


... and a Dunnock foraged under a bench.


A Jay looked for fallen rowan fruit on Buck Hill.


Starlings gathered on the umbrellas at the Lido restaurant ...


... and one of them hastily swallowed a chip before the others closed in on it.


A young Herring Gull won a whole muffin.


Four kinds of gull in a row at Peter Pan: Lesser Black-Backed, Herring, Common and Black-Headed.


Black-Headed Gulls hung around a Great Crested Grebe chick in the hope of snatching a fish when its parent arrived to feed it.


The number of Cormorants in the park is steadily rising. Today I found 21 on various parts of the lake.


The female Wigeon was beside the Serpentine.


A Gadwall poked around on the gravel strip on the Long Water.


A Shoveller preened at the island.


The Egyptian Geese have begun their winter pastime of standing on sawn-off trees and making a tremendous racket.


A Common Banded Hoverfly (Syrphus ribesii) browsed on on Mexican Orange flowers in the Rose Garden.

7 comments:

  1. A nice observation, the four gull species neatly in a row. Any clues as to the sex of the two super-blond Egyptians? Jim

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    1. Don't know the sex of the super-blond(e)s. I suspect that this coloration is sex-linked as blond males are rarer, so the bets are on both being female. Have to wait for them to say something but, not being a couple, they have been silent so far.

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    2. I am coming to see Egyptians as quite as worthy of attention as I do crows. They may be sillier and less intelligent, surely, but they can be depended on always being doing something interesting.

      Very nice and thoughtful of those gulls to arrange themselves pleasingly by size. Had they done it alphabetically, my happiness would be complete.

      A singing Robin is the best part of any day.

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    3. Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to find a language in which the gulls are arranged in alphabetical order. This comment will self-destruct in 10 seconds.

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    4. Tinúviel is certainly right about crows:I had a pair last year - Bella and Lulu - who knocked on the window every morning and evening to be given their meal. We got to know each other pretty well.
      But the Egyptians? Are they up to competing with crow savvy?

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  2. Beautiful dawn shot by David.

    You did well lining up 4 gull species like that.

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    1. They lined themselves up. Full credit to the gulls. I was just there with a camera.

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