A Robin near the Henry Moore sculpture carried nesting material.
A female great Tit was begging her mate to feed her, to make sure that he will look after her when she is on the nest.
A Blackcap sang in a holly tree near Peter Pan.
The bronze Feral Pigeon that is always at Peter Pan was looking rather handsome.
It seems odd that the prevailing colour scheme of Feral Pigeons is not the original one of wild Rock Doves, grey with two dark wing bars, but the dark blue-grey pattern that pigeon fanciers call Blue Chequer. There must be a dominant gene for the dark morph.
A Grey Heron was fishing under the willow by the bridge, in the same place I photographed a Mute Swan yesterday.
On the other side of the bridge one of the two male Coots was bringing leaves to his mate on the nest.
Every year Coots nest on the plastic buoys around the Lido swimming area, but no nest here has ever succeeded.
A pair of Canada Geese and their four goslings ate some rice that someone had put down for them. Not the best of diets for growing chicks, but they will get plenty of grass and insects.
The Egyptians that had 13 goslings are now down to 12. But they have done much better ...
... than the Greylags that had 11 yesterday, who are now down to 6. Usually the larger geese are much more careful parents than Egyptians.
Another pair had four.
A pair of Mallards on the Serpentine have six ducklings.
A Pochard drake was reflected in the little stream in the Dell.
I think this bug in a ceanothus bush in the Rose Garden is a Mottled Shieldbug, Rhaphigaster nebulosa.
This bee on a polyanthus leaf in the border is clearly an Andrena Mining Bee, but it looks too monochrome to be the familiar A. flavipes.
A few feet away a female Hairy-Footed Flower Bee visited an ajuga flower.
I really am trying hard not to get too attached to the goslings. Less heartache when the inevitable happens :-(
ReplyDeleteIs that leaf for decoration, anti-insect protection, or just good to eat?
Tinúviel
Maybe for comfort as an addition to the lining. But mainly, Coots can't stop adding things to their nest.
DeleteHow late do Pochards stay around, or will any present now be breeding and/or feral?
ReplyDeleteI think most so-called courtship feeding will be to assist with egg creation, as it makes sense for both sexes to actively gather food in that effort, prior to which, few demonstrations of the male's capability will be needed. Jim
I am rather surprised by the lingering Pochards. In previous years they visited for the winter but had gone by the beginning of spring, except for a drake with an injured wing who couldn't fly. When these Pochards appeared on the Serpentine -- the winter visitors flock on the Long Water -- I thought they were going through and would be off again in a day or two. But no.
DeleteThe practical effect of courtship feeding in helping the production of eggs makes sense in evolutionary terms but that has little relation to what the birds think they are doing -- and I credit them with real intentions, they are not acting entirely from blind instinct.
Maybe these Pochards are a feral flock, hence their calmness around people. And could there be a matching feral flock all or mostly of females somewhere, resulting from instinctive winter segregation, that the former flock have been unable to re-connect with?
DeleteI think the begging female songbirds would have additional hunger cravings to satisfy, and the males simply obey them as any trait not to would be quickly bred out. Jim
Not feral. All the Common Pochard in London are genuine wild birds & the capital has nationally important breeding numbers of a scarce UK breeding bird.
DeleteBy contrast the Red-crested Pochards are feral birds on the whole.
There's a terrible shortage of female Common Pochards. A few years ago I was asked to do a count of the sexes at a time when females were expected to be present -- it was part of a survey on why the species is in such decline. There were 8 drakes to every female.
DeleteI'm envious of your Mottled Shieldbug, Ralph. A relatively recent colonist here & one i still haven't seen. It is supposed to be common at Rainham these days but haven't managed to locate one on my visits.
ReplyDeleteThe Rose Garden does seem to be a good place despite its urban surroundings. We had that Isodontia mexicana wasp last year. Year-round flowers and no pesticides must be the reason.
DeleteYes remember that stunning wasp. Another I haven't seen!
DeleteNothing exotic today, though I got a decent picture of a Speckled Wood lit from above.
DeleteThat's a beautiful pigeon! I guess one has to think of chicks as not so much perpetuating the species, more food for the neighbours...
ReplyDeleteSadly so.
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