The male Little Owl at the Speke obelisk came out of his hole to enjoy a sunny interval.
I try not to disturb him by getting too close, but he still went back into the hole after a few seconds.
The tatty Blue Tit in the Flower Walk is difficult to feed. She won't come to your hand and wants to take food from the ground, but the other birds usually get to it first.
Blue Tits are both more aggressive and more fearful than Great Tits -- the two characteristics tend to belong together. There is only one Blue Tit in the Flower Walk that will feed from your hand.
Long-Tailed Tits hunted through the tree near the bridge. They will have no dealings with humans at all and completely ignore them.
A Starling at the Lido restaurant had won a bit of croissant, and hurried off to a quiet place to eat it undisturbed.
The female Peregrine was on the tower.
There is now a small group of Jackdaws on the south bank of the Serpentine. They trot out confidently and stand in your way until you give them peanuts.
A Magpie in a hawthorn beside the Long Water was also expecting a modelling fee.
A Carrion Crow at the leaf yard carried off a grisly morsel it had scavenged from a carcass somewhere.
The familiar Black-Headed Gull EZ73323 was in its usual place on the notice ...
... but the moment I turned my back it was knocked off by a crow.
On the path below the affectionate pair of Herring Gulls strutted and called side by side.
A Great Crested Grebe at the east end of the Serpentine was catching fish at a great rate near the outflow of the Serpentine.
This is the place where I saw a teenage grebe doing equally well on Wednesday. No wonder there are so many Cormorants visiting the lake at the moment.
One of the Moorhens in the Dell looked for food at the edge of the stream while the other dozed on the small waterfall.
Coots bounced in the choppy waves whipped up by the wind at the Round Pond.
The five teenage cygnets were together on the Serpentine near the bridge. I'm not sure where the sixth which I saw yesterday was.
Their mother (of two of them) and stepmother (of the other three) was busking about chasing the other swans away.
There are four teenagers at the Round Pond which I just managed to get into the same picture.
Swan soap opera is the best kind of soap opera. They'd give Coronation Street a run for their money.
ReplyDeleteSo interesting to see fearfulness mixed with aggression. It looks like they go together across species.
Tinúviel
There was a very fierce Blue Tit in St James's Park, absolutely used to people, which would fly out and menace you in a tiny way until you fed it, buzzing you as if you were an owl. Not sure whether it's still alive.
DeleteI sometimes think all aggression is provoked by fear...
DeleteThose coots make me seasick! Thankfully I watched the calming moorhens afterwards. Lovely to see the little owl is still about, I must come again
ReplyDeleteIt's been a wonderful year for seeing Little Owls. Don't know how much longer we'll be able to keep it up, so don't wait too long.
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