Thursday 13 January 2022

A Great Tit ...

... and a Blue Tit posed obligingly on the coloured stems of a dogwood bush in the Flower Walk. They were induced to choose this background by Neil feeding them there.

A Robin waited on the fence to be fed.

Long-Tailed Tits rushed around in a birch tree beside the Long Water ...

... and in a horse chestnut near the Italian Garden.

A Goldcrest flitted about in the top of a lime.

Starlings washed, drank and socialised at the edge of the Serpentine.

A Carrion Crow had a quick wash in the Huntress fountain in the Rose Garden.

A pair of Stock Doves perched in a lime on Buck Hill.

However, I couldn't find a Little Owl for the second day running. I fear the pair may have abandoned the squirrel drey and found a new place to spend the day. The drey was certainly not their nest site, as it would have been an unsuitable place to lay eggs.

The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull took a heavy meal from his latest kill, then washed the blood off his face. He is very fussy about his appearance.

This is one of the Black-Headed Gulls ringed here by Bill Haines, number 2V20.

The third Grey Heron nest is constantly occupied. One heron guards each of the three nests while the other goes off to fish.

The Great Crested Grebe teenagers have merged into the general population, and you have to look closely to spot them. This one was at the island.

Canada Geese slurped up Daphnia water fleas from the Serpentine. A closer view of the tiny creatures is included.

A Pochard drake at the Vista swam around in sunshine which lit up his brilliant red eye.

4 comments:

  1. You certainly seem to get the birds to pose so well for you-that feeding is paying off!

    Lovely to see the Stock Doves- always enjoy seeing these.

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    Replies
    1. It takes two people to get well posed pictures of small birds, one to feed and one to photograph. You can just about manage alone but it takes longer and a good picture is purely a matter of chance.

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    2. That picture of the posing Blue Tit is worth a Vogue cover!

      Great to see the young Grebes doing so well. We've had a very good year.

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    3. Yes, that Great Tit struck a most elegant pose. They re underrated because they are so common.

      One year in the 1990s we had 16 adult Great Crested Grebes and 16 young ones, though of course not all of the latter made it.

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