A Jay was feeling the heat.
A female Chaffinch lurked in the shade of a yew tree in the leaf yard.
Wrens could be heard all along the edge of the Long Water, mostly hidden deep in the bushes.
There are no leaves on this tree in the Flower Walk because moth larvae have eaten them all. But the larvae in turn provide a feast for Long-Tailed Tits.
One of the Little owlets at the Serpentine Gallery looked out of a hole in the second sweet chestnut tree -- not the one with their nest. I'm sure this tree is hollow from top to bottom, and the owlets climb around inside and can emerge from any hole.
Their mother was outside, perched on a branch.
The horse chestnuts at the Round Pond have few holes if any. If the owlets want to go inside they have to fly over to the dead tree where their nest was.
The male, in another tree, turned round and gave me a nasty look as I got too close to his offspring.
The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull took a pause during his lunch and a Carrion Crow sneaked in. He saw it off ...
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... and went back for a second helping.
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A pair of Coots have nested under the boat platform, a good place as the chicks can scuttle into shelter if a gull passes over.
There were three new Mallard ducklings at the east end of the Lido. Their mother was sensibly keeping them next to a reed bed to deter swooping gulls. Even so, she probably had a lot more than these three to start with.
An Egyptian Goose was eating plane leaves. You'd think these leathery leaves were too tough to be palatable.
The Bar-Headed x Greylag Goose hybrid looks exactly like a pure Bar-Head and is quite small and agile, without the tendency to waddle shown by larger geese. It strode briskly up from the lake to find some grass.
Several Emperor dragonflies were hunting around the Italian Garden.
Duncan Campbell sent a fine picture of a Comma butterfly, clearly showing the 'comma' mark on its underwing.
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He has also sent me his provisional list of 21 bees he has identified in the park with reasonable certainty. He has pictures of at least another 10 that he hasn't been able to identify yet, but he's working on them. Here is the list so far, with his picture of what is probably an Ashy Mining Bee, Andrena cineraria.
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Hylaeus (Yellow-Faced Bees)
Common Yellow-Faced Bee
White-Jawed Yellow-Faced Bee
Andrena (Mining Bees)
Tawny Mining Bee
Ashy Mining Bee
Yellow-Legged Mining Bee
Red-Girdled Mining Bee
Anthidium (Wool Carders)
Wool Carder Bee
Osmia (Mason Bees)
Red Mason Bee
Blue Mason Bee
Megachile (Leafcutter Bees)
Patchwork Leafcutter Bee
Nomada (Nomad Bees)
Gooden’s Nomad Bee
Anthrophora (Flower Bees)
Hairy-Footed Flower Bee
Green-Eyed Flower Bee
Bombus (Bumblebees)
Buff-Tailed Bumblebee
White-Tailed Bumblebee
Red-Tailed Bumblebee
Early Bumblebee
Tree Bumblebee
Common Carder Bee
Vestal Cuckoo Bee
Apis (Honeybees)
Western Honeybee
Er, yum..clearly they like their pigeons rare...
ReplyDeleteCooking facilities are a little limited on the edge of the lake.
DeleteThe Owlets appear to be much more inquisitive than their parents. Perhaps youngsters are naturally more curious across species.
ReplyDeleteSuch a tiny ball of fury, the male Little Owl!
An impressive list of bees. I wouldn't know how to even begin to tell one other apart!
Tinúviel
Well, I am only beginning to learn to distinguish bees, and very often get them wrong. Duncan also told me that there are also about 20 species of hoverfly in the park. Best not to even think about beetles.
DeleteSeem to be plenty of Emperors around currently. Saw quite a few Monday at the London Wetland Centre (also found a much rare Lesser Emperor there) & quite a few at Kew Gardens yesterday.
ReplyDeleteGood to see the bee list. I'm sure far from comprehensive but some bees are tiny & very tricky to identify. Do you have patches of Yellow Loosestrife anywhere around the water? If so worth looking for the Yellow Loosestrife Bee- I found it at both the sites I mentioned above.
Yes, there are more Emperors than usual near the Italian Garden, four at one point.
DeleteI haven't noticed any Yellow Loosestrife in the park, but now that I've looked it up I can keep an eye out for it. We have plenty of the purple kind, of course, and it's seeding itself all over the park .In a few years it will have spread all along the ugly wire baskets surrounding the island, and much improve the appearance of the place.
Despite their English names the two loosestrifes aren't related at all so unlikely to find the bee on Purple Loosestrife. Yellow is in the Primula family.
ReplyDeleteYes. Mysterious name 'loosestrife', from Lysimachus with the same meaning. In what sense does it loose strife?
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