Wednesday 3 November 2021

Even at a time of year when the small birds aren't doing much, you can rely on the Flower Walk to have tits expecting to be fed. Here are a Great Tit ...

... a Blue Tit ...

... and a Coal Tit.

A Robin perched on the fence, looking disgruntled because ...

... there was a Magpie on top of its favourite corkscrew hazel bush.

The Blackbird family in the Dell were in the yew tree on the corner, eating the fruit.

A Chaffinch, Goldcrest, Long-Tailed Tit, Grey Wagtail and Robin in various parts of the park -- a compilation of clips too short to show on their own.

The Peregrine was on the crane, which was busily swinging around hauling things to the top of the new building in Knightsbridge. No amount of activity disturbs him, and I'm sure he enjoys the ride.

The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull had enjoyed a good breakfast and a wash and preen, and was shaking down his feathers.

A Great Crested Grebe chick on the Long Water got a generous sized fish for lunch.

There were lots of Cormorants at the island. Numbers are building up to the point where they start fishing in a gang, which is fun to watch as long as you aren't a fish.

The grass in the Dell was being mown. Moorhens could wander easily in the newly cut grass looking for insects and worms.

Another Moorhen made itself comfortable on a bed of leaves in a large crack in the concrete edge of the Serpentine.

The concrete was laid in the early 1970s and subsidence of the ground has moved and cracked it in several places. It's noticeable that the edge of the lake is several inches higher around the southeast corner, where the ground was built up to contain the water held in by the dam. The wise 18th century builders knew about the tendency of London clay to slump over the years, and made a generous allowance for it which has still not been fully taken up. More recently the civil engineers for the Diana fountain, Arup, made little allowance if any. The heavy stonework started sinking into the ground immediately, requiring massive and very expensive work to shore it up. The Henry Moore sculpture was also built on inadequate foundations and soon started to lean. It had to be dismantled a few years after it was set up, and was put back on a huge frame of steel girders buried in the ground.

Greylag Geese flew past the island.

5 comments:

  1. The Coal Tit looks so beseeching and appealing, it almost looks like a small child asking for candy.

    Have I ever mentioned how intelligent Great Tits' eyes look to me? They are never mentioned among brainy birds, but I'd wager they are cleverer than they let on.

    Love the new video format. Double or treble the small birds, double or treble the fun. Always a treat to see Goldcrests flitting around.

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    1. Coal Tits are absolutely irresistible. I've passed up many a good opportunity for a photograph because they just had to be fed at once.

      The compilation video is just an accident. I'd accumulated some clips too short to use so I thought I'd make a mixed salad of them.

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    2. Never was a fan of mixed salads, but this one I love!

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  2. Clearly, today's civil engineers take "competitive tendering" too literally. Jim

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    1. My brother in law is an architect and has some ghastly tales to tell.

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