A Sparrow-like chirping from a lime tree was puzzling, as the chances of there being a Sparrow in central London are close to zero. It turned out to be a Chaffinch fledgling.
Its mother was attending to it.
Carrion Crows finishing off a plate of fish and chips at the Dell restaurant disputed who would get the last pea.
One of the Little owlets near the Round Pond was on view.
So was one at the Serpentine Gallery.
A Grey Heron did its best to blend into the woodpile beside the Long Water ...
... and another looked down from a willow. It seems odd that all the herons are in Kensington Gardens apart from the pair nesting on the island and their two chicks. Possibly the nesting pair are chasing the others away.
Black-Headed Gulls are beginning to return from their breeding grounds. Evidently these are the ones that didn't succeed, as there are no young ones yet.
The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull had finished his breakfast and washed his face, and was looking very smart in the sunshine.
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A pair of Coots built a nest under the marble fountain at the edge of the Italian Garden when the fountain was out of order. Purely by luck, when the fountain restarted the jets of water coming out horizontally went either side of it.
A Mallard on the Serpentine has four ducklings, one of which is blond. If it survives it will be an adult with normal markings but very light coloured.
It looks very like the Plastic Bath Duck, Anas balnearia.
A Red-Crested Pochard drake at the Vista was almost completely in eclipse, with only a few feathers left from its ginger bouffant crest.
A male Black-Tailed Skimmer dragonfly basked in the sunlight beside the Serpentine. Unusually for dragonflies, males are duller looking than the bright yellow and black females, but they have fine green eyes.
A Honeybee browsed on a purple knapweed flower at the back of the Lido.
A Seven-Spot Ladybird ran across the path, climbed a stem, and sheltered under a leaf. It's good to see a native ladybird rather than the invasive and ubiquitous Harlequins.
Not a NASA image of the surface of Neptune, but a patch of toxic blue-green algae at the Dell restaurant, brought on by recent warm weather.
Gosh, the colours are incredible. Beauty is everywhere, if one can but perceive it.
ReplyDeleteI'm stealing that Anas Balnearia bit. Stroke of genius!
Look at those tufts in the Chaffinch fledgling! Adorable little thing.
Tinúviel
Even blue-green algae, which smell awful, have a certain visual appeal.
DeleteI've never seen such a young Chaffinch before. It was very naive and didn't flee as I was crashing around in the bottom of a dense lime tree trying to see it.
Good to see you have breeding Chaffinch there. We have no breeding Chaffinch here but get variable number sin the winter. By contrast House Sparrows are abundant here.
ReplyDeleteI see far more 7-spots than I do Harlequins. A couple of weeks ago we went on an insect walk at nearby Warren Farm: hundreds of recently emerged 7-spots with a few larvae/pupae, a small number of 2-spots & Harlequins as well as a 14-spot.
It's odd that our Chaffinches and Greenfinches seem to be doing so well compared to those in other places. But Goldfinches are not at all common here, although there are plenty in the surrounding streets.
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