It was a day of very strong gusty wind, which lashed the wildflower patch in the Rose Garden.
In the calmer intervals it was possible to see a Green Woodpecker on the ground on Buck Hill ...
... and a Great Spotted Woodpecker in a tree not far away.
A Chiffchaff sang beside the Long Water.
The male Blackbird of the pair in the Dell paused in front of a patch of forget-me-nots.
I've been trying to make friends with this Robin near the leaf yard and today, encouraged by seeing half a dozen Great Tits feeding from my hand, it came itself and took a pine nut.
A Magpie on the edge of the Serpentine found what is probably a larva. It looks like a very small fish, but I think these would have fled out of reach when they saw the Magpie walking along the edge.
The Peregrines were on the usual ledge of the barracks tower. The male was sheltering from the wind on the left of the concrete projection and went to the back of the ledge as I approached. It was only when I got home and looked at the pictures that I realised you could just see the top of his head in one shot.
The Little Owl at the Round Pond was huddled right down in her hole, so here is a good picture of her taken yesterday by Robin Pettitt when she briefly came near the front.
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A young Herring Gull dived repeatedly over the same spot in the shallows at the edge of the lake. Evidently it had seen something on the bottom. Whatever it was, the gull didn't succeed in getting it up.
The two young Grey Herons were in their nest, while on the ground below there was a slightly older one which had evidently just flown in. An adult stood in a nest just below the first one, and it was possible to hear the clacking sound of yet another young heron begging for food. If you have good quality sound equipment you may just be able to hear this above the loud wind roar at 20 seconds in -- which is why I haven't turned down the sound as I usually do for videos with wind noise.
Mallards were enjoying the wind in a display flight round the Serpentine, with three drakes trying to impress a female.
The Mandarin pair reappeared at Peter Pan. It's a relief to find that the female is not nesting after all, as the survival rate for Mandarin ducklings is close to zero. In the eleven years since I started the blog only two have ever got through.
The solitary drake was in the Italian Garden.
I didn't know that the survival rate of Mandarin ducklings was so dismal. I wish there was a way to discourage them from nesting in such terribly abysmal places.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on making a friend of the Robin! A triumph of kindness and perseverance.
Tinúviel
Mandarins do quite well on the nearby Regent's Canal, with plenty of waterside cover and few gulls, and most of them have the sense to stay there.
DeleteAs for that Robin, bribery will get you everywhere.
Would the solitary mandarin duck not just move on if he is not successful at pairing with a mate, Ralph? Has it been lonely for some time now?? I haven’t seen many species at the park myself..
ReplyDeleteSean
You'd have to ask him. He's been here for a couple of weeks,
DeleteSuch beautiful birds are Mandarins. Even the females have a certain grace.
ReplyDeleteLovely video of the flowers, though I'd hardly call them wild as they seem dominated by cultivars of various bulbs but grown in a naturalistic way. Nonetheless aesthetically pleasing.
I think female Mandarins have a wonderful understated elegance.
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