Sunday 15 May 2022

Young Long-Tailed Tits out of the nest

The young Long-Tailed Tits from the nest in the gorse bush on Buck Hill are now out and flying around begging their parents to feed them. Here are two of them.



This is the Great Tit nest in an iron bollard beside Rotten Row that Mike Harris told me about yesterday. A parent emerged from feeding the chicks.


A Wren on Buck Hill was also feeding a family. It came back with a spider but found a Magpie near the nest. It darted around from tree to tree to hide the location, chattering furiously.


One of the Blackbirds in the Dell was collecting worms for chicks.


The Mistle Thrush near the Round Pond tried for an insect but only got a tuft of grass.


A Starling looked out from a nest hole in an oak tree.


A good picture from yesterday by Ahmet Amerikali: a Reed Warbler beside the Serpentine.


The Grey Wagtail in the Italian Garden was catching insects with remarkable speed. I looked at the time stamp on my pictures, and between the moment of its arrival at the fountains and the haul shown here was just one minute.


Both the Pied Wagtails were here too.


A closer look at one of them.


The Coot chicks in the pool are now able to feed themselves.


The single Great Crested Grebe chick is growing fast.


The two Canada Goose families were together at the Triangle car park. They chased off a Mallard with ducklings.


Three goslings browsed on weeds at the edge of a shrubbery under the watchful eye of their mother.


A family of Greylags threaded their way carefully through a group of Mute Swans, which are liable to attack them.


The Mallard ducklings pecked at a piece of floating wood. There may have been some edible algae on it, but hardly enough to bother with -- maybe they were just playing.

12 comments:

  1. It's incredible how cautiously and anxiously the geese tread (or rather, swim) around the swans. It's like Fremen avoiding calling the attention of Shai-Hulud.
    Lovely pictures of the young Long Tailed Tits and the Great Tit looking on from its nest. The Starling is likewise looking smashing.

    Tinúviel

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    1. Swans are very likely to peck at goslings, especially at this time of year when they're full of hormones and frustrated territorial ambitions.

      Had to look up the Dune reference. One of the many gaps in my education.

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  2. Lots of hungry mouths to feed now! Good to see the fledged Long-tailed Tits. Hope the wagtails are equally successful!

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    1. We've also got a Blackcap fledgling, maybe more than one. Will have pictures and video in the next post.

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  3. Lovely stuff Ralph! I am in London on Thursday and would love to photograph the Starlings visiting the nest hole in the oak, any chance of providing a location for this one? Kind Regards, Ben

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    1. It's in an oak immediately to the south of the oak where the Tawny Owl was. There's another nest hole -- in fact two entrances to the same nest -- in another oak just to the west of the tree where the nearby Little Owl used to be. Both nests are quite noisy when the parents arrive, so should be easy to find.

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    2. Thank you Ralph, really appreciate the info and hopefully can check them out before they fledge!

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  4. Fabulous shots as ever! Do you still see the little owls btw? I have still to find one

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    1. Believe me, if I see any owl it will be on the day's blog.

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  5. Pair of grey wags this morning 10.0 am on and off posts Serpentine side of bridge - are these from Italian Gardens do you think, or newcomers? David

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    1. I've seen two different ones in the park recently. They fly the whole length of the lake, so you can't be certain of their origin.

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