Monday 21 November 2022

A rainy day

A nasty wet day and not much to see. A Blue Tit in the Flower Walk sheltered under a leaf ...


... which also kept it out of sight of the aggressive Robin, which was still chasing all the other birds. I only got one picture of it as it bounced around angrily.


Another Blue Tit ventured out in the corkscrew hazel bush ...


... till the small birds were scared away by the arrival of a Jay looking wet and hungry.


Several Jays followed me around the Long Water.


One found a berry.


A Blackbird poked in wet leaves.


A Grey Wagtail trotted along the edge at the Lido.


A bag containing bread carelessly left on a bench was raided by a Carrion Crow.


A Grey Heron stood on the dead willow at the Italian Garden, waiting for a fish to forget it was there.


A Cormorant fished over the wire baskets full of twigs that serve as a hatchery for perch, hoping that one would incautiously poke its head out. By now the Cormorants have eaten most of the easily caught fish in the lake, and they are beginning to return to the Thames.


This is the place where the Coot family had their nest, and they still hang around the spot. The Cormorant disturbed them and they came ashore looking indignant.


There are still fish to be had. A recent picture by Ahmet Amerikali shows a Cormorant with a good-sized carp under the parapet of the Italian Garden.


One at the island jumped on to a chain and scrambled up on to a post. They can't do pinpoint landings as Grey Herons can, so getting up is always a struggle.


Photographed through the rain-blurred window of the Dell restaurant, a strange diner at a table.

5 comments:

  1. Ok, I'm officially stumped. What is that thing?

    Tiny ball of murderous fury, that Robin.
    Tinúviel

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    1. The Winter Wasteland sells large spherical stuffed plush objects with comic animal features superimposed on them -- for example you can get a dog face as well as this panda one. That leaves the question of why, and the only answer I can give is that some people buy them, no doubt for a grossly inflated sum.

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  2. Delightful shots of the Jays. Must be quite a spectacle seeing them follow you!

    Lovely shot of the Grey Wagtail-it looks as though it's on a very determined march!

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    1. Once you start feeding Jays they follow you relentlessly. Many of them will now grab a peanut from my fingers in flight, an interesting experience. You don't need to teach them this trick: one of them invented it and the others copied.

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  3. Theyare such intelligent birds. Did see quite a few of them at Kew yesterday.

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