The Long-Tailed Tits were busy building up their nest in a gorse bush. While they were away getting building material a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee visited the flowers.
The pair near the bridge were also busy.
A Blue Tit checked a bush in the Rose Garden for insects ...
... and a Dunnock sang in the next bush. Male Dunnocks have more grey on their head than females.
A Robin crept out in the Flower Walk to apply for a pine nut. One of the Robins here will come to my hand, but not this one yet.
A Jay looked out from the corkscrew hazel bush farther along the path.
The female Blackbird of the pair in the Dell gave me a mistrustful stare. She is much shyer than her mate.
The Wood Pigeon with the large collection of wood perched on one of his logs.
The male Pied Wagtail that hunts on the south edge of the Serpentine was busy as usual.
I saw a Little Grebe on the Long Water yesterday, but only for a moment and didn't get a picture. Today it could be seen crossing the lake at the Vista.
A pair of Great Crested Grebes cruised under the bridge ...
... to maintain their nest under the willow. It would be wrong to say that they're building it, because they stole it from a pair of Coots that had done all the heavy work.
Another pair of Great Crested Grebes were at a nest at the Diana fountain landing stage. This too was stolen from Coots.
These are the last two surviving Egyptian goslings on the Serpentine. Their parents are doing the best they can to keep them safe from swooping gulls by keeping them in the daffodils and under a bench.
A Mute Swan flew past another in front of a reed bed.
This ram's head urn in the Italian Garden is a replacement for the original one made in 1860, which was badly eroded by acid rain. It was installed during the restoration of 2011 and is already looking quite weathered.
It looks like those are good attentive parents, as Egyptian standards go.
ReplyDeleteA Long Tailed Tit building its nest and a Bumblebee. Life can't get any better.
Why is the Wood Pigeon stockpiling wood? It can't possibly know that is is its namesake, right?
The Wood Pigeon just happens to like perching on that stack of wood. But people keep adding logs to it, and it's beginning to look like a dragon sitting on an ever increasing hoard of gold.
DeleteLovely to see the Long-tailed Tit video. Hopefully the aggressive spines will give the nest protection from raids by squirrels & corvids.
ReplyDeleteNice to see the Little Grebe. We used to have at least a couple of pairs breeding at Lonsdale Rd Res (Leg o' Mutton) but they disappeared some years ago for reasons I don't understand. similarly they used to be common in the early days at the London Wetland Centre. They still seem to thrive at Kew Gardens where there's usually a couple of pairs on the main lake.
A recent LTT nest in a gorse bush was predated by rats, which had to climb quite a way up inside the spiky bush.
DeleteLittle Grebes have declined in St James's Park. You used to see three or four at every visit, now it's more like one. I think the increase in urban Herring Gulls is to blame. When LGs bred in Kensington Gardens a few years ago the young only lasted three days.