Sunday 19 June 2022

New Great Crested Grebe chick

A Little owlet looked out of the nest hole in the chestnut tree by the Serpentine Gallery.


Both of them climbed around on the broken top of the trunk.


Their mother watched from the other side of the tree, far enough away not to be pestered.


When we got near the other Little Owl family near the Round Pond they were being mobbed by Long-Tailed Tits.


An owlet could be heard calling in a nearby tree but couldn't be seen. The female ...


... and male adults were in trees on either side.


Young Blue Tits were milling around in the Flower Walk.


Three young Starlings lined up at the Lido restaurant, waiting to raid a table.


Two Carrions Crows were obviously planning something.


There is a single newly hatched Great Crested Grebe chick at the Serpentine island It was fed a feather (which grebes eat to wrap up sharp fishbones) and climbed on to a parent's back.


It got slightly more substantial food in the form of an unfortunate Common Blue Damselfly.


The young Coots at the bridge are quite old enough to feed themselves, but on a warm summer afternoon prefer to laze in the nest and let their parents bring them things.


The dominant Mute Swan on the Long Water flapped to shoo away a Grey Heron on his island.


The oldest brood of Egyptian Geese now have almost completely developed flight feathers. You can see this one's primaries showing above its tail, not quite yet full length, and its iridescent green secondaries.


The single Greylag gosling is nowhere near so far ahead, but is growing quickly.


A Red-Crested Pochard drake cruised past Peter Pan.


Meadow Brown butterflies are now coming out in the long grass.


I think this is a Burnet Companion moth. (Update: Conehead 54 confirms this, adding that it's a little faded.)

6 comments:

  1. Hi Ralph, I have just visited London with my six year old son who is obsessed with watching birds.
    Your blog has been a brilliant source of information and helped us to identify many of the birds that we seen.
    Unfortunately we didn’t spot any owls but managed to see many of the others that you regularly photograph.
    Just as we were travelling back to the hotel a Jay flew into the flower walk and stayed around for a few minutes. I have a very happy son now. Thanks very much and keep up the great work.
    Jamie

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    1. Very glad you had a good visit, and it's excellent that your son is so interested in birds at such an early age. And thank you for your kind words about the blog.

      The Jay was probably looking to see if you had any peanuts. They are accustomed to being fed and thoroughly spoilt.

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  2. The Little Owls will brighten even the darkest days. Wish I had some here that could be seen easily, but your pictures are enough to share the joy of seeing their beloved and lovely forms.

    Tinúviel

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    1. I'm a bit surprised that Little Owls should be so hard to see in western Spain. They thrive in hot dry environments, including North Africa.

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  3. So many youngsters! Very pleasing to see the Little Owls. They seem to have had a good season my way too.

    Confirm the Burnet Companion- a little faded now.

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    1. We still have two possible Little Owl sites that have so far not revealed anything. Will keep looking.

      Thanks for the confirmation of the Burnet Companion. I was worried by the markings having become less sharply defined.

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