Monday 20 December 2021

A Redwing ate rowan fruit in the trees on Buck Hill.


The male Little Owl was calling to its mate, but today I didn't get a sight of either of them. I still don't know where their nest hole is. There doesn't seem to be a usable hole in the broken lime tree where they shelter in the squirrel drey.

A Wood Pigeon eating elderberries lost its balance and fell out of the tree. It decided it was easier to nibble leaves on the ground.


A group of Long-Tailed Tits were chasing each other madly near the Italian Garden. One paused on a twig for just long enough for a picture.


It was the day of my monthly bird count and I didn't get many pictures, so I am indebted to Neil for supplying these four excellent ones.

A Great Tit ...


... and a Blue Tit in the wintersweet bush near Mound Gate (which is the southernmost gate into Kensington Gardens from the West Carriage Drive).


The bold Coal Tit in a winter-flowering cherry in the Flower Walk ...


... and a Rose-Ringed Parakeet wantonly destroying the blossom, which it didn't even eat.


A Pied Wagtail hunted along the edge of the lake at the Lido ...


... and the Grey Wagtail was back at the Dell restaurant.


A young Herring Gull on the Long Water played with a plastic fork.


This Common Gull perches on the same notice beside the Serpentine day after day.


The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull cruised around looking for his lunch ...


... and a Feral Pigeon did its best to look like a gull, which I don't think fooled him for a moment.


Two pairs of Egyptian Geese had a noisy territorial territorial dispute at the Round Pond, with the pair on the left gradually driving the other pair back.

2 comments:

  1. The pigeon could have fooled me from the distance.

    How did the bird count go? Was it successful, or was it very boring?

    I am always amazed by how you manage to get notorious energy balls such as Long Tailed Tits to pose still for a picture. It must be 'bat and eyelid and you miss it' moment.

    Superb picture of the Redwing against the red berries. A study in different shades of cream, brown, and red.

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    1. The bird count was successful: I counted the birds. But it gets more and more boring every time I do it -- I've been counting since 2004 -- and I heartily wish I could find someone enthusiastic enough to take it over. Also I couldn't wear gloves because I had to work the phone, and when I got home my hands were so frozen that I couldn't turn the front door key. 'Smartphone gloves' with special coatings on the fingertips don't give fine enough control to work a tally app, where you sometimes have to write in figures.

      Photographing Long-Tailed Tits is largely a matter of taking lots of pictures and hoping one comes out all right.

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