Cooler weather has brought the small birds out of the bushes where they have been sheltering. A Robin ...
... and a Great Tit searched for insects in the flower beds in the Flower Walk ...
... and the young Blackbird made an appearance. In this picture the light catches the vibrissae, or whiskers, at the side of its bill, which work exactly like cat's whiskers in helping the bird to poke around in dark places.
Neil got a good shot of a Reed Warbler near the Italian Garden.
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The female Little Owl near the Round Pond is less often seen than her mate.
He was in another tree. I could hear owlets but they were hidden in the leaves.
One of the owlets at the Serpentine Gallery looked out of a large hole ...
... and stretched its wings.
One of the Moorhens in the stream in the Dell enjoyed a wash while the other sat on the eggs. They should be hatching soon.
Two Coot chicks were interested in a hole in the concrete edge of the Serpentine. I don't know what they found there, if anything.
The two smaller chicks under the boat platform are still in good order ...
... and the nest at the Dell restaurant is busy, though it will be some time before the next lot of eggs hatch.
However, only one Mallard duckling is left after Herring Gulls have taken the others.
Unworried by its likely fate, it picked insects off the surface of the water.
A patch of heliotrope in the Flower Walk attracted a Common Carder bee ...
... and a rather tattered Painted Lady butterfly.
Nick Abalov sent a fine picture of a Large Skipper butterfly.
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So did London get the full 40ºC experience finally? I hope you were finally spared.
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough, in Spanish a cat's whiskers are called vibrisas!
The female Little Owl at the Round Pound seems more skittish than the other owls. She almost looks alarmed, when she ought not to be, considering how delicate and careful you always are.
Tinúviel
Welcome back, and hope you're feeling better.
DeleteThe thermometer on the wall outside my window, in a completely built-up street in the heat island of central London, crawled up to 38°C at 3 pm. The media reported 40°C in 'the little village of Church Crookham', which just happens to be at one end of the runway at Farnborough, swept by jet exhaust. They also used to quote figures from Heathrow, but I think they've been obliged to drop that in the face of public contempt.
Owls do have personalities. The female at the Serpentine Gallery is unflappable. You stare at her, she stares back.
38 C, or whatever, was bad enough for me. Certainly in Central London. But yes, their measurings seem spurious, or at least dodgy.
DeleteThey aim to terrify us.
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