Thursday 30 March 2023

Wrens everywhere

Wrens are singing and scolding everywhere. This one was making a fuss in a lime tree near the Italian Garden ...


... and another was hopping around in the bushes near the bridge.


A pair of Long-Tailed Tits ranged through the branches above.


A Chiffchaff sang from a treetop near the Speke obelisk.


The female Little Owl was looking out of her hole in the dead tree near the Round Pond.


A pair of Jackdaws inspected the new gravel strip on the pond, found nothing of interest, and returned to the shore.


On a windy day a Great Crested Grebe bounced in the choppy waves and had a preen and a flap.


The grebes at the Lido have abandoned their nest on the net, and were loafing nearby.


On the island the Grey Heron with the red bill was sitting down in the nest. We know better now than to take this as a sign that the pair have eggs. Maybe it just wanted a rest.


One of the young herons was on the island contemplating a pair of Tufted Ducks.


The other was on one of the wire baskets.


The Mute Swans that I filmed courting and mating were at it again. They stay near the island and probably intend to nest there. Although the middle of the island is now blocked off, there are suitable places around the edge.


The solitary Mandarin drake is still here. He was cruising around the Serpentine, occasionally picking insects off the surface of the water.


As soon as a pair of Egyptian Geese see another pair they go into full display mode. These were at the Henry Moore sculpture.


A pair on the traffic island at Marble Arch have six goslings. They lost an earlier brood. Thanks to Duncan Campbell for this picture.


I haven't seen this air ambulance on Buck Hill before. It's an Agusta-Westland AW169. The pilot landed extremely cautiously and slowly, as this helicopter has wheels rather than skids and there was some risk of it sinking in and getting bogged down.

6 comments:

  1. The air ambulance here is making trips constantly, for such a small town. And no one appears to be asking why.
    I wonder who would win in a shouting match, or perform fury better: a Robin, or a Wren.
    Tinúviel

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    Replies
    1. Here the air ambulance used to carry mainly victims of serious road accidents to the spinal injuries unit at Stoke Mandeville. But now, as with you, it's much busier and most of the casualties have been stabbed in the streets of an increasingly lawless London.

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  2. Great to hear so many Wrens at the moment. After the December freeze I thought we'd lost quite a few as I didn't detect many, but my fears were probably misplaced as they seem plentiful now.

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  3. Well done you, stopped hearing goldcrest last century!!

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    Replies
    1. I have always hated and avoided pop music, so my hearing has survived pretty well.

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