An apocalyptic weather forecast of prolonged rain turned out wrong as usual and it was quite pleasant apart from a few showers.
As often happens, a Wood Pigeon eating elderberries by the bridge reached so far that it lost its footing and fell out of the tree.
At the Henry Moore sculpture a male Feral Pigeon nibbled affectionately at a female -- it had been going on for several minutes before the start of this video -- got his way, and promptly flew off without a coo of thanks.
A very pale pigeon sat in the longer grass at the edge of the lawn.
Whenever I go near the old chestnut trees by the Serpentine Gallery where the Little Owls nest, the male Chaffinch resents me being on his territory and chirps at me.
Both the female owl ...
... and the owlet here could be seen in their usual lime tree. Note the difference between the strongly marked white spots on the mother's head and the faintly emerging ones on her youngster's.
Drizzle kept the owls at the Round Pond inside the first time I visited, but when I came back later an owlet shot out of the lime tree chased by a Magpie and hid in a horse chestnut where I couldn't see it. The father, hearing the noise, came out of the dead tree to see if it was all right ...
... then flew up into the chestnut and started preening.
Two warblers at the Welsh Harp reservoir photographed by Mark Williams. In neither case is the species certain, as warblers are notoriously difficult to tell apart. First a Reed Warbler ...
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... and then what I took to be a faded and tatty female Blackcap, though (update) Conehead 54 reckopns it's an untidy young one. In this species the grey and black males are easy to identify, and the brown females and juveniles easily confused.
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One of the three young Blackbirds in the Rose Garden was poking around in the bushes.
A Coots' nest on the Long Water was occupied by a Grey Heron using it as a fishing platform. Luckily the chicks have been out on the water for a couple of weeks.
Whether the Great Crested Grebe at the bridge is on the water ...
... or in the nest, it keeps the three chicks firmly held under its raised wings and you seldom get a glimpse of them. But soon they will be bigger and spend more time on the water.
A parent approached with another fish for them.
A closer look at the Little Grebe on the Long Water near the Italian Garden.
A fox cantered across the Dell and leaped into the bushes.
A Meadow Brown butterfly drank from a buddleia blossom near the bridge. They spend some time siphoning nectar out of each flower, while bees take only a couple of seconds, probably getting a lot less.
On the Great Willowherb in the Italian Garden, a Common Carder bee didn't pause for more than half a second on each little flower and I was lucky to get a picture at all.
Lovely to read about the juvenile blackbirds. We have our second pair of the year out at St James's park: there may be three in all, but can't confirm that yet. They were coming for sultanas two days after they first appeared: great progress, as when I first started feeding them 9+ years ago, it took over a year for them to stop flying away in terror every time I pitched fruit in their direction.
ReplyDeleteI'm making some progress with the three young Balckbirds in the Rose Garden. They aren't frightened by having things thrown in their direction but don't always realise that these are edible. I think buying some fresh sultanas would help, as mine are a bit old and hard, perfectly edible but not fragrantly enticing.
DeleteYou were lucky with the weather there then, Ralph as it only stopped raining briefly in the morning here & from about 4 pm, otherwise a soggy right-off!
ReplyDeleteAgree with Reed Warbler & a Blackcap- suspect the latter is a juvenile.
Yes, I was out before and after most of the rain in the afternoon. When I found the Little Owl at the Round Pond around 5pm the sun was actually out from time to time, as the video shows.
DeleteThanks for help with the Blackcap, which was not in a state where it looks much like the picture in Collins.
Am I awful for always egging the Wood Pigeon to fall on its face? It's so darn funny!
ReplyDeleteI had never noticed how easy is to tell age by the white markings. Very nice and easy trick!
Tinúviel
It's the kind of thing you notice when you see the owlets every day.
DeleteI’m absolutely loving the acrobatics from the Wood Pigeon! Talk about reflexes.
ReplyDeleteSean