The Song Thrush at the leaf yard was in full song at the top of a lime tree.
A Robin raised its voice to be heard above the noise from the busy Bayswater Road.
The first pair of Robins shown here were in the Flower Walk, the second in the Rose Garden. At this time these very aggressive little birds have reached the stage of being near each other without fighting. Relations will improve over the next month.
I haven't seen the pair of Jackdaws near the Round Pond for months, but as soon as they saw me they came over to take several peanuts each.
All the Redwings on the Parade Ground were up in the trees.
Common Gulls like to get together on the grass between the pond and Kensington Palace. In midwinter there are usually more here than on both the larger lakes.
The dominant Black-Headed Gull on the landing stage at the Diana memorial fountain cleared his territory of rivals and strutted about proudly.
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A young Herring Gull couldn't find a toy better than a bit of rotten plastic bag, but played with it anyway.
This is practically the same picture as yesterday's because exactly the same thing was happening: a Grey Heron was looking down into its nest and poking around in it. I'm becoming more sure that there are eggs, but there's no way of telling yet.
The Cormorants at the island favour this tree to perch on, although the thin branches will only just bear their weight. On average a Cormorant weighs about 6lb, twice as much as a Grey Heron.
A Great Crested Grebe fished in the shadows under the bridge.
A male Coot at the Lido chased a female who was not in the mood for mating.
Two new Coot nests are going up on the east side of the Long Water.
The pair of Egyptian Geese from the Italian Garden preened under the parapet.
Although this rabbit at the Henry Moore sculpture is old and half blind, it still has a fair turn of speed ...
... which it needs to keep clear of the foxes around the Long Water. This one is sadly mangy. It seems to happen to all urban foxes as they age.
So we are now certain that there was no heavy meal of rabbit the other day, I hope.
ReplyDeleteThat black-headed gull is as aggressive as it is pretty. The object of its ire seems to be its own kind only though, as it passed pigeons by without a second glance.
To think that such tiny lovable feather balls as Robins are should be so dangerous to other robins.
Well, we haven't seen the other rabbit yet, so no certainty of the outcome.
DeleteThe object of the Black-Headed Gull's fury is exclusively other gulls, but not just its own species. I've seen it chasing a Herring Gull, though so far I haven't got a picture or video of that.
Sad to see the mange on the Fox.
ReplyDeleteCommon Gulls definitely seem to favour short turf over water. When I do my WeBS count on over 3 miles of the Thames I rarely get more than 20 birds peak count whereas on local playing fields I can get many more than that. At Yeading meadows I often see more than 100 birds & sometimes double that. They deserve their moniker there where they easily outnumber any other gull species.
Yes, I've noticed an understandable preference among birds of all sizes up to medium for short grass that doesn't impede them from strolling around. The total absence of grass (but presence of worms) on the Parade Ground after the funfair makes it a magnet for insectivorous birds.
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