Two young Blackcaps waited to be fed beside the Long Water. You can hear their parents ticking angrily at a Magpie that has got too close to the family.
A young Wren was in a nearby tree.
Young Starlings on the Rose Garden lawn searched for their own food, but as soon as a parent landed near them they rushed off and begged to be fed.
A family of Great Tits were making quite a noise in a holly tree near the bridge.
A Long-Tailed Tit in the Rose Garden was looking soggy after a shower.
There were two young Grey Wagtails at the east end of the Serpentine. They both look young, but I think it's one of the two fledglings and its mother, who is less than a year old and doesn't yet have full adult plumage.
One of the two Pied Wagtails in the Italian Garden ran along the kerb of one of the pools.
There were only brief glimpses of the male Reed Warbler in the reed bed below the balustrade, but at least I got him singing.
The Great Crested Grebe chick from the Long Water had wandered under the bridge on to the Serpentine. It seemed perfectly happy preening and catching midges, but I hope its parents found it.
There are now eight chicks in the Coots' nest on the wire baskets next to the bridge.
The Mute Swan family from the east end of the Lido had come into the swimming area.
One of the cygnets had a narrow escape from being snatched by a Herring Gull. No picture, as I was too busy saving it. I think it was all right, though it was severely shocked and had to be herded back to its mother.
The female Mandarin on the Long Water was dozing next to her mate, completely ignoring her ducklings, which were some distance away catching midges under a tree. It's hardly surprising that they are now down to 5 from the original 13.
The two Mallard ducklings in the Italian Garden were also unsupervised. They are almost large enough to be out of danger from gulls.
Two interesting pictures of bees from Duncan Campbell. He's reasonably confident that this is a Vestal Cuckoo Bee ...
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... and this looks like a Common Carder except that it's extremely light coloured. Maybe just an unusual blond one?
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Tom was at Hutchinson's Bank in Croydon, an area of chalk grassland inhabited by a fantastic range of butterflies. Here are his pictures of a Glanville Fritillary ...
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... a Duke of Burgundy (I can't find why it's called that, but it's quite rare) ...
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... a Small Blue (also called a Little Blue) ...
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... a Grizzled Skipper ...
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... and a Dingy Skipper.
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I know next to nothing about butterflies, but those are gorgeous pictures.
ReplyDeleteI had thought cygnets wouldn't be ordinarily in danger from gulls. I was wrong, unfortunately.
Hope the Grebe chick got back to its parents safely.
Tinúviel
I've never seem any of those butterflies myself. Most impressed by Tom's record.
DeleteIf gulls can take pigeons, nothing smaller is safe.
Agree with the bee IDs. Hutchinson's Bank is a wonderful place for butterflies. The Dukes are across the road in a different reserve called Chapel Bank. They've done lots of great work, though some of the species have been introduced- the Glanvilles some years ago. The Dukes I think more recently.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the confirmation. Someone asked me how many species of bee there were in the park. More and more keep turning up, often thanks to Duncan Campbell. At a wild guess I'd say at least 20, maybe 30.
DeleteThat's a sad attrition rate among the mandarins. Do the gulls nest locally?
ReplyDeleteHerring Gulls nest in Paddington. I think Lesser Black-Backs are beginning to nest in central London too, judging by the rising proportion of young ones I've seen, but don't know where.
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