It was still possible to find a Little owlet at the Round Pond, at the top of the horse chestnut tree where they have a hole.
The bold Blue Tit in the Flower Walk which comes to my hand is looking very worn after breeding. It stared crossly when I photographed it instead of feeding it at once.
This young Robin in the Flower Walk is older than the one I photographed on Saturday and is beginning to get red feathers.
This is one of the parents of the other young Robin.
A Wood Pigeon sunbathed on fallen leaves in a flower bed.
A handsome grizzled Feral Pigeon trotted around beside the Serpentine.
A young Blackbird foraged for insects beside the Long Water. There won't be any worms for it until we get some rain, but there are still blackberries.
A Rose-Ringed Parakeet at the leaf yard had difficulty in pecking bits out a Granny Smith apple, which rolled around and was too big to grip.
The Peregrines were both on the tower, though the male had disappeared by the time I got close enough for a photograph.
The attraction of the Knightsbridge Barracks tower is not just that it's the tallest building in the locality, but also that there's a permanent flock of pigeons on the grass below. As soon as any of them takes off it's there to be seized in midair.
A Grey Heron stood on the roof of one of the small boathouses. I'm told that male herons have a longer black streaming crest on top of their head than females.
A dramatic picture by Nick Abalov: a Black-Headed Gull speeds down the Long Water with a biscuit it stole in the Italian Garden.
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There are still two Tufted ducklings on the Serpentine, now half grown and diving like fury.
Another good picture by Nick: a Red Admiral butterfly on a leaf.
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Male Black-Tailed Skimmer dragonflies are usually rather dowdy with the blue-grey dusty coating (pruination) on the abdomen. But this wears or washes off, revealing quite a smart blue-green insect.
Update: David Element tells me that this is not a male but an 'over-mature' female. Dragonfly colour is a complicated business.
A Honeybee worked over a heliotrope in the Flower Walk.
I can report some good news from St James’s Park. There is a Great Crested Grebe family with 4 chicks. They were easily visible from the bridge this lunchtime.
ReplyDeleteGood news. I hope the nest on the Long Water will be equally successful. The grebes have had a bad year and need a bit of luck.
DeleteThat Owlet has grown so well! I suppose it'll be considered an adult soon, at least by its parents.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if it is an optical effect, but don't young Robins look larger than their parents when their plumage is still dappled? They look sleeker in their adult feathers, if it can be said that Robins are sleek by any definition of the word.
Tinúviel
Yes, I think that young Robins may be bigger than their parents when the adults have their smooth plumage sleeked down. But of course Robins can fluff themselves up to a vast extent, becoming more or less spherical for warmth on a cold day.
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