A Coal Tit near the Albert Memorial posed obligingly in hawthorn blossom.
A Great Tit looked out from a tree trunk.
Blackcaps were singing all around the Long Water.
A pair of Song Thrushes scolded a Jay that had landed in their tree.
A Robin was also nervous about something in the top of a tree.
One of the elusive Greenfinches appeared in a treetop near the bridge.
Chaffinches are much less shy and easier to photograph.
A Carrion Crow broke off a twig and flew with it to another tree, where it had a careful look around before going on to its nest.
A Jackdaw looked out from its nest hole in an oak near the leaf yard.
The Tawny Owl was in his usual place.
A Grey Heron in a nest at the west end of the island had an attractive background, but I still don't think it's serious about nesting.
The Great Crested Grebe chick on the Long Water is still in good order. I'm fairly sure there's only one, but that gives it a greater chance of survival when small fish are in small supply.
However, these exist. I saw a small carp in the Serpentine which would have been just the right size to feed to a grebe chick.
A Coot brought a leaf to its mate on the nest at Peter Pan.
Another took time off from nest building to have a scratch.
A flock of Greylag Geese were grazing peacefully beside the Serpentine ...
... until some people turned up with a dog off the lead.
What a lovely, lovely picture of the Coal Tit!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny that Greenfinches should be scarcer or rarer to photograph than Chaffinches. Round here it's the exact oppposite. Greenfinches everywhere, not so many Chaffinches.
There's no shortage of Greenfinches, which have bounced back well from the recent epidemic of lung disease. The trouble is that they like being inside the foliage at the top of evergreen trees and rarely come out in a visible place. They are also acutely aware of being looked at from the ground.
DeleteGreenfinches are still massively down in most places I visit, though I can find some in one or two places.
ReplyDeleteWonderful shot of the Great Tit & of course the Tawny Owl. I'll have to pop down & see if I can find it as it must be at least a couple of years since I last saw one.
Yes, the Blackcaps are arriving. When I did my Sunday patch yesterday I heard 21 singing Chiffchaffs & 3 Blackcaps. Suspect all the former have arrived but should be many more Blackcaps to come.
Odd that our Greenfinches seem to be in better shape than those elsewhere. A local group that has evolved immunity?
DeleteLots of singing Chiffchaffs here too. Again, hard to photograph.
If you're coming to see the Tawny, please email me and I'll send you the coordinates. Or I might be there to show you the tree.
Thanks Ralph- I may try & get up there one day next week. I will contact you the day before.
ReplyDeleteHope to see you then, but I'll send the coordinates as a precaution if you contact me by any medium.
DeleteThanks Ralph.
ReplyDeleteInfuriating that so many dog walkers either cannot or will not control their dogs - have had many confrontations with the idiots over the last 8 years - would rather avoid this, tbh, but we never have enough police in the park and the wildlife often needs protection :( Mark
ReplyDeleteThere are lots of police in the park, driving around in SUVs and vans and taking remarkably little notice of what's happening outside. Intervention would generate tiresome paperwork.
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