There is a surprising number of Song Thrushes in the park this spring, and they now outnumber the Blackbirds. This is one of a pair nesting by the bridge.
A thrush brought a worm to a nest near the Italian Garden.
This one was foraging near the Speke obelisk, where I've also seen them carrying worms to a nest.
A Chiffchaff sang beside the Long Water.
This Blackcap is often heard on a hawthorn across the path from the Henry Moore sculpture.
The Robin between the Albert Memorial and Mount Gate will now come to my hand.
So will a pair of Coal Tits, one of which perched in a flowering cherry tree.
Starlings are nesting in the eaves of the Buck Hill shelter, though I haven't heard any chicks yet. They make quite a noise when their parents arrive to feed them.
A family of Magpies near the Lookout couldn't resist having a bit of a scuffle from time to time.
Afternoon sunshine briefly brought the female Little Owl at the Round Pond to the edge of her hole.
Three Stock Doves perched in the adjacent horse chestnut tree.
The affectionate pair of Herring Gulls on the south side of the Serpentine are almost always seen together. Their behaviour contrasts with that of the pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Back and his mate, who are quite offhand with each other even in the breeding season.
A Grey Heron perched on the rustic fence around the old Field Maple tree by the leaf yard. It was probably hoping that someone feeding the Rose-Ringed Parakeets would drop something it could grab.
A Moorhen poked in the algae on the small waterfall in the Dell. There may be small creatures in it or the bird may have been eating the algae. Moorhens will eat just about anything.
A Mining Bee, Andrena flavipes, investigated the primulas in a border in the Rose Garden.
I wonder how the vivid colours of the primula looks like to the bee. I have read that their abilty to see the ultraviolet spectrum makes patterns and colours in flowers look like runway lights.
ReplyDeleteStartling to see that there are more Song Thrushes than Blackbirds. It speaks to the decline of their populations, sadly.
Tinúviel
I think the ultraviolet pattern on the flower is lines converging towards to centre, making a sort of asterisk to guide the bee.
DeleteBees have trichromatic vision with about the same spectrum width as ours but shifted towards the violet end: they can see ultraviolet but not red. They do visit red flowers, but I suppose these may have ultraviolet guide lines on them.