It's not unusual to hear a Song Thrush singing occasionally on a mild winter day, but the one at the southwest corner of the leaf yard is now singing all the time.
Another Song Thrush ...
... was eating the fruit in a sloe bush at the Lido.
There were at least a dozen Redwings around the rowan on Buck Hill ...
... as well as a couple of visiting Mistle Thrushes. The resident Mistle Thrush was doing its best to keep them all away from its tree.
A Wren hopped around in a nearby patch of scrub.
The Little Owl was in the same tree as yesterday and the day before, but in no mood to be photographed.
Tom got a good picture of a Great Spotted Woodpecker on an oak at the leaf yard. This is the male of the pair I filmed yesterday.
Two Carrion Crows were making themselves unpopular with the staff of the Lido restaurant by using one of their umbrellas to investigate some rubbish they had hauled out of a bin.
A few yards off, a pair of Great Crested Grebes solemnly greeted each other.
One of the teenagers caught a perch under the willow near the bridge.
Coots are reoccupying their old nest on the other side of the bridge.
Something panicked the Greylag Geese in the Diana fountain enclosure and they erupted over our heads.
The elusive Pochards have reappeared on the Long Water. There were at least twenty under various bushes.
A film crew were at work around the Italian Garden. The sign says 'Welcome to the Moscow Botanical Garden.'
The Winter Wasteland that disrupts Hyde Park at least looks quite bright at night. You now need to pay just to go in, and produce a certificate to show that you have taken all your clotshots. I'm staying away.
It's the same all over Europe, worryingly. In my neck of the woods you need no certificate so far, but I wonder for how long.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous to listen the Song Thrush sing. I wonder how a duet with a Blackbird would be.
Maybe the Little Owl wanted to go incognito today from her fans. Even Madonna does at times.
I'm afraid it will soon be the same everywhere in the ex-democracies of the west as the insane billionaires tighten their grip. It saddens me that I will never go to a concert again. But at least they can't stop us listening to the birds singing.
DeleteGood to see the Pochard back. When I went to the London Wetland Centre last week I found only 3 female Pochard there & on Pen Ponds a couple of days later the same- 3 females only. They are red listed now so hope we don't lose these beautiful ducks.
ReplyDeleteOn Facebook yesterday there was a link to the Guardian newspaper about the Mayor's rewilding project in Hyde Park & across London. There was some nonsense about Beavers being re-introduced (in a London park???) plus some other better ideas. Not sure if you've see anything about this. Other ideas like green roofing, nesting for Swifts & Peregrines seemed more realistic.
I can't decide whether we've had 20+ Pochards since the autumn arrival and they get hidden under the bushes, or whether they are actually going away and coming back.
DeleteAnything emanating from Sadiq Khan's propaganda machine should be treated with utter scepticism. You can't just put a green roof on a house. They are heavy and require serious waterproofing underneath, and probably some kind of solid barrier to stop roots getting through.
But if anyone wanted Peregrines nesting next to the park, a single box of gravel on the ledge of the Knightsbridge barracks tower would do it. I've even seen them mating on that ledge.