Wednesday 24 August 2022

Willow Warbler

A Willow Warbler gave a short burst of song near the bridge. 


Starlings waited in a treetop overlooking the Dell restaurant. 


They saw a large slice of pizza and made the most of it.


An adult Wood Pigeon and a young one gorged themselves on berries in a pyracantha bush near the bridge.


The young Little Owl near the Round Pond was out on a horse chestnut branch.


It was the male Peregrine's turn to perch on the barracks tower.


A young Grey Heron looked gormless on a post at the island.


Yesterday there was a family group on the water near the Dell restaurant: the pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull ...


... his mate and this year's offspring. They wouldn't get quite close enough to get all three into the same picture, but it was clearly a family.


Today they were away and there was a little band of young Lesser Black-Backs (the one at top right is a Herring Gull).


I've heard reports of individual Lesser Black-Back pairs nesting in central London, but it looks as if a colony is established somewhere, just as there is a colony of Herring Gulls in Paddington north of the park.

There were plenty of Cormorants at Peter Pan.


A Coot and two chicks settled in a heap near the boat platform.


A female Pochard and a female Shoveller stood on the fallen poplar in the Long Water.


The globe amaranth flowers in the Italian Garden are attracting a lot of insects, mostly Honeybees. I think this is a Common Carder bee, though it isn't very ginger.


And this hoverfly is certainly Eristalis nemorum, because I saw the characteristic dark stripe on its face.

5 comments:

  1. I guess the Barcelona gull must have returned to Gull Mecca in the Pitsea rubbish dump. Beats living in Barcelona by a wide margin.

    Glad to see Pigeon Killer's mate is doing well. She hadn't been seen for a while.
    Tinúviel

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    1. Almost everyone I know who has been to Barcelona has been mugged by Roma. That is not the case with the Pitsea rubbish dump.

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  2. Lovely shot of the Willow Warbler. Haven't heard one since the spring, but have seen a few juveniles recently including 2 juveniles yesterday in Richmond Park.

    Lovely shot of the E. nemorum on the Globe Amaranth. I was thinking to get some of the latter next year but as an annual (certainly in temperate climes) seems to be only available only as seed. I'm quite taken by them since seeing them in the Italian Garden.

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    1. The clumps of globe amaranth in the planters are getting larger and they are squeezing out the other plants. In a flower bed the plant might be a nuisance -- though as an annual it can hardly take over the garden.

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    2. Plants have to be robust in my garden-very informal, wildlife garden. I do have plenty of pots too, so probably best in those.

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