A family of Blue Tits bounced around in a bush on the edge of the Rose Garden. This is one of the young ones.
Lower down there was a family of Wrens. Again, this is a young one.
They were dashing wildly all over the place.
At the Round Pond, one Little owlet appeared in the morning ...
... and both of them in the afternoon, perched together high in a horse chestnut.
The other male owl at the Serpentine Gallery was on guard defending his owlets. He shifted around and preened nervously. I couldn't even see the owlets today, but he knew where he had put them.
We're hardly seeing the females of either family, but this was the case last year too. Presumably they come out in the evening to help with finding food for their young.
This is the young Magpie that was rescued, and is now absolutely accustomed to being looked after by its saviour, whose hair it was busy messing up. She told me that she had had it for three weeks after finding it fallen out the the nest. It already rules her two dogs.
Another Magpie was bathing in the Dell.
The Peregrines on the tower were more friendly today, and were actually looking at each other.
The Great Crested Grebes on the Long Water were maintaining their nest.
A grebe was guarding the stolen Coot nest at the Serpentine outflow.
A half-grown Moorhen chick wandered around on the shore by the island. I was worried for its safety, but after a while its mother arrived to take care of it.
Astonishingly, a Mute Swan has managed to hatch a single cygnet on the Round Pond. She must have remained unnoticed by anyone among the waterfowl on the gravel strip for five or six weeks.
Mark Williams reports that the captive Shelducks in St James's Park have bred, but they already seem to have lost all their ducklings except one.
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A Marbled White butterfly sped all over the Rose Garden with me in pursuit, but finally it consented to perch in a bush so that I could photograph it.
A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee was hard at work in the clump of eryngium at the Lido.
Great to know about the magpie: it looks a lot healthier now, the lady must be doing a great job with it đŸ˜€
ReplyDeleteAnd a marbled white in the area is great news: usually have to go to the reservoir or Brompton cemmy to see them!
The Magpie looked very lively though its tail was tattered, possibly the result of being rescued.
DeleteThat was only the second Marbled White I've ever seen in the park.
Someone I used to distantly know used to have a small side business selling magpies believe it or not. I never quite knew how he did it, or where he procured them, but he'd sell you a tame, hand-trained young magpie for 50 euros (at the time, more than a decade ago). I'd lie if I said I wasn't tempted.
ReplyDeleteTinĂºviel
Judging by Esther Woolfson's description in Corvus, Magpies in the house are quite a challenge.
DeleteNot easy to get the Marbled White settled! I thought they ( & other species of brown) might be in low numbers this year as the grasses on which the larvae depend would have been all dried up in last year's heatwave, but locally had some big counts of these & Meadow Brown.
ReplyDeleteMarbled Whites remain pretty rare in the park, though Mark tells me that there are more in Brompton Cemetery. On the other hand the rough grassland is absolutely stuffed with Meadow Browns. They have been very active and I still don't have a good picture.
Delete[commenting once again on yesterday's entry. I've given up on finding out what causes the intermittent posting error but am grateful to have found a way around it]
ReplyDeleteWhat a cheering and uplifting sight, so many young birds fledged! It's been a good year.
Maybe Rudolf Steiner is taking possession of the magpie's body to keep on sitting on his preferred spot. Who knows what spirits get up to up there.
TinĂºviel
I'm not sure what Steiner would come back as. Probably a Raven.
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