It was a hot day and most of the birds were staying in the shade of the bushes, but there was a sight of a Wren singing in the woodland near the Henry Moore sculpture.
A Jay waited in a tree nearby to fly down and grab a peanut.
A Chiffchaff was calling beside the Long Water. They are still singing occasionally.
A young Starling scavenging at the Lido restaurant was feeling hot and sought the shade of a chair.
No Little Owls were to be seen in the morning, but in the afternoon I managed to find the female adult in a lime tree, the first I've seen of her this year.
An owlet was on a branch in the nest tree.
As I was going away I heard an owlet calling from a lime tree 30 yards away. I'm not sure whether there are really two owlets, but I think I would have seen the first one flying from the nest tree to this one, which was dead ahead of me as I was walking. It was invisible in the dense leaves.
The old Grey Heron on the lawn by the Henry Moore stood among ragwort plants, which are coming up everywhere ...
... and popular with Honeybees if not with gardeners.
One of the Moorhens in the Dell jumped off its rock and started pulling up algae.
The Egyptian Geese on the Long Water were with their five goslings on the gravel strip.
The sole surviving Mallard duckling was at Peter Pan, with no sign of its mother. To be fair to her, she was probably being chased around by a drake.
A Mallard had four ducklings on the shore by the Dell restaurant. Luckily the pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull was away.
A Red-Crested Pochard drake on the Serpentine washed and had a good flap.
A fox was sunbathing in the Dell.
A Meadow Brown butterfly drank from a thistle.
Two pictures by Mark Williams. He reports that the young Robin near the St James's Park leaf yard is now coming out on the railings expecting everyone to feed it.
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Mating Common Blue damselflies landed on the path near Peter Pan. They can fly away without losing hold of each other. I wonder how they can can steer in unison.
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Mark
ReplyDeleteOps made a mess of that ;) just wanted to say that the damsels were located between Peter Pan and the Long Water. Lots of people in the area, but their minds were on only one thing 😉
ReplyDeleteFinally the Female Little Owl makes an appearance! She has been busy, what a sight.
ReplyDeleteSean
That's very forward of a young Robin, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteYou may not have seen the female Little Owl this year till now, but she certainly must have seen you often, judging by her curious and placid expression.
Tinúviel
Little Owls perch where they can see the ground, so if you go near their trees they are almost certain to be watching you, and not approving of your intrusion on their territory. I have a working relationship of tolerance with the Round Pond male as long as I don't get too close either to him or wherever he has parked the owlets. If I overstep the boundary he protests. Thank goodness for a 600 mm lens.
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