A Carrion Crow had found a piece of a burger, a rich prize. His mate demanded a share, calling and fluttering her wings like a begging fledgling, and got it.
A pair of Reed Warblers chased each other through the little reed beds next to the Italian Garden.
The tatty Blue Tit in the Flower Walk has become even tattier after nesting. Its flight feathers are all right but the rest of it is practically bald. The poor bird must have some dreadful infestation of feather mites.
Feral Pigeons tend to choose mates of their own colour.
The hole in a wall left by removing the flue of a central heating boiler is just the right size and shape for a pigeons' nest. There is one in the wall immediately above my back window.
There is very little Grey Heron activity at the Serpentine island, the birds' usual haunt. They now seem to prefer Kensington Gardens. Three were stalking about under the ungainly bulk of the Henry Moore sculpture ...
...one was in the long grass a little way up the path ...
... and two more were on the gravel bank, evidently a pair despite the difference in ages.
The Coots from the nest on the post at Peter Pan have done well to keep four chicks.
The pair at the bridge still have six, but these wander widely and refuse to get into a group for a photograph.
The Mute Swans from the gravel bank brought their four cygnets over to the shore at the Vista.
The dominant pair were under the Italian Garden, jealously guarding their two surviving young as they fed on algae.
Another brood of six Egyptian goslings has come out on the Serpentine. The geese overcome the high casualty rate with fantastic fertility.
As in every June, large numbers of geese have come to the Serpentine to moult in safety, since the broad expanse of the lake protects them when they are flightless. Greylags lined up on the edge near the island.
Old friends are arriving, such as this Bar-Headed x Greylag hybrid from St James's Park.
A Red Admiral butterfly sunned itself on the path near Peter Pan. The white fluff comes from poplar trees.
A male Black-Tailed Skimmer dragonfly basked on the sun-warmed stone surround of the fountain in the Rose Garden.
A Thick-Legged Flower Beetle walked slowly over a bramble flower.
It had a faceoff with a Honeybee that landed in front of it. The beetle won, and the bee flew away to find an unoccupied flower.
Will moulting help the poor tatty Blue Tit to regrow healthy feathers? I hope so. Do they moult in July over there as they do here?
ReplyDeleteI wonder if males do the begging fluttering thingee as well or it's just the females. It stands to reason that it's a way for females to make sure that the males will feed them while they are nesting, so I suppose males don't have any use for that behaviour.
Tinúviel
Nice view of the Reed Warbler. The Great Tit is barely recognisable as one-never seen such a dull looking one.
ReplyDeleteA good selection of insects which is always good to see.
Great Tit? Isn't it a Blue Tit?
DeleteYes, it is.
DeleteTactical crow! Interesting about the pigeon colour thing, never heard that before
ReplyDelete