Monday 28 March 2022

Goldfinch in a tree

A Goldfinch looked for insects on a tree near the Italian Garden fountains, which you can hear in the background.


A Long-Tailed Tit brought a feather to its nest in the Flower Walk.


A Magpie was also gathering nesting material.


A Robin perched among the enormous blossoms of a Magnolia grandiflora.


A Wren jumped around among new horse chestnut leaves.


Our anonymous contributor sent in a fine picture of a Treecreeper near the Round Pond.


The Tawny Owl enjoyed the warm sunshine in his oak tree.


But the sunshine came after a cold night and there were ice crystals in the air, producing a pair of sun dogs and a halo which could be seen over the Serpentine. Thanks to Duncan Campbell for this impressive picture.


A screaming mob of Herring Gulls descended when someone was unwisely trying to feed a Mute Swan.


The Great Crested Grebes under the willow near the bridge, which seemed to have forgotten about their nest, are back on it.


The Egyptians at the Henry Moore statue have lost their last gosling, and were sitting sadly on the grass.


There are at least three Mandarins in the park, two drakes and a female. Possibly there is a second female already nesting. A pair flew from the Long Water to the Lido, didn't like it, and flew back after a couple of minutes.



A female Mallard appeared near the island with just one duckling left. You can hear the Herring Gulls screaming murder. The drake was no help at all, and chased it.


A female Hairy-Footed Flower Bee gathered pollen from a clump of polyanthus primroses -- not a very good source and she didn't spend much time on each one, but there were no better flowers nearby.


A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee worked thoroughly over the composite flower of a berberis bush, taking a little sip from each floret.


A brief glimpse of a Bee Fly on a dead leaf -- a bumblebee mimic but with strangely long legs.


Tinúviel sent a pleasing picture of four Spoonbills and two Black-Winged Stilts at Los Barruecos park in Extremadura.

4 comments:

  1. I wonder how the several Long Tailed Tits' nests are doing. You were worried about the location of one of them, as it was too exposed.

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    1. Yes. I have looked at that nest occasionally and it's complete and undamaged, but I haven't seen any birds visiting it. The nest in the Flower Walk is well hidden in a bush and impossible to inspect.

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  2. Some lovely videos.

    Seeing your Magpie collecting nest material, they along with a pair of Crows had been breaking twigs off my birch for nest material, but yesterday the Magpie was on the next stage as it collected muddy leaves/debris from the pond edge.

    Worth pointing out that in addition to the Spoonbills there's also 2 Black-winged Stilts in the right of the photo.

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    Replies
    1. Many thanks for identifying the Stilts. They were so small in the picture that I didn't dare to guess.

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