A Starling was tearing lichen off a small lime tree beside the Serpentine to see if there were any insects underneath.
A poplar had a Great Tit on the same quest.
A Blue Tit in the Flower Walk wanted a pine nut, and wanted it now.
The dominant Robin perched haughtily after chasing all the tits out of his tree.
The Little Owl was back to her usual branch. She won't stay there when the leaves have fallen as they are beginning to, though this horse chestnut escaped the worst of the Leaf Miner attack.
I heard from the BTO: the Black-Headed Gull EZ73301 that has claimed a post near the Dell restaurant was indeed ringed by Bill Haines in 2016, as was EZ72233 on the post opposite.
All the orange plastic rings with codes beginning 2V are his too. 2V48 was near the island ...
... and 2V57 across the lake.
This is a special gull, as it was already given its metal in the Czech Republic, code ET05.589, in 2021 and Bill added thge plastic ring earlier this year. Most of the Black-Headed Gulls on the lake have never been farther afield than the Pitsea landfill site in Basildon, though we have three Polish gulls among our foreign visitors.
The Grey Heron at the Lido restaurant that was beginning to jump on to tables has disappeared, as herons that get too pushy tend to. Herons are a protected species, so it will have been grabbed and taken to a remote location -- or at least I hope so. But its place has already been taken by one of this year's young herons from a nest on the island.
One of the young Great Crested Grebes from the nest at the bridge confronted a Coot on the Long Water. It had just caught a fish, but I was too slow to get the shot.
Its parents relaxed by the bridge, their duty done till next summer.
Two female Pochards washed together on the Long Water. The Common Pochard is a Red-listed bird, and also has one of the most skewed sex ratios of any duck so that females are in short supply. However, the population in the park is doing well.
Several more Gadwalls have just arrived. The number in the park fluctuates at random as birds fly in and out of other London parks. There were two drakes and a female by the gravel strip on the Vista ...
... and another trio in the Italian Garden.
The long staying drake on the Serpentine was scolding a Tufted Duck.
A Tufted drake stared up from the waterfront at Peter Pan.
After a grey damp start it was quite warm, and there were Honeybees on a patch of salvia in the Rose Garden ...
... and a single Buff-Tailed Bumblebee.
A ginkgo tree in the Rose Garden has produced a large crop of fruit. The yellow drupes are the size of greengages and contain a single large seed. They have a disgusting sewagey smell and none of the birds seem to be eating them. I read that the seed is roasted and prized for its flavour, although it's quite toxic so that it's unwise to eat more than a few.
I wonder how far a heron has to be transported to stop it finding its way back.
ReplyDeleteThey have still not identified what would have eaten ginkgo fruit. A female ginkgo tree like this one is rarely encountered, and actual maidenhair seems to have become endangered in our younger generation. Jim
A very long way, I'm sure. I have my suspicions about this story, as I did with the foxes -- the difference here being that killing a Grey Heron is illegal.
DeleteI was also wondering about gingko fruit. The dungy smell is of the kind that would attract insects, but there would be no advantage to the tree in that, since they would not distribute the seed as a mammal or bird would. Perhaps in its native East Asia there is or was a creature that would consider it palatable.
I too hope the captured Heron will evade captivity and will be back to its endearing habit of pestering the tables.
ReplyDeleteVery glad to see the young Grebe is picking up fish on its own, and swiftly enough that it even managed to evade the picture.
Tinúviel
See my comment above on the heron.
DeleteI don't know what the survival rate of young Great Crested Grebes is, but I guess that only a minority at best survive the transition to independence. It's always thus with predators.
I see you've managed to comment with a name, and haven't been blocked on today's comments. That's splendid, if it lasts. Fingers crossed.
It comes and it goes - got one failure to comment message, but this one seems to be going through.
DeleteAnd indeed it arrived.
DeleteHi Ralph - about the hobbies (your post of 29 October 2023 at 02:28): perhaps we should compare notes to improve our picture of what happened with them this year, as in 18 trips between 8 Jul to 1 Sept, totalling nearly 50 hours' observation, I never saw juveniles - very different to 2020, 2021 and even last year. Also, it might have been quite literally unprecedented for the female to lay not only a second but a third clutch - their nesting window is short, and I can find no references to a third clutch being laid in the literature (though am more than willing to be corrected).
ReplyDeleteMaybe best to take it offline given Schedule 1 sensitivities.
I was surprised too, but the family was seen by Vinny and he is knowledgeable. I wouldn't ever reveal the location of an active Hobby nest, of course. Nor would I say exactly where past nests have been, in case they were to use the site again -- this year's first nest was on a reused site. But the cat has long been out of the bag about Hobbies sometimes nesting somewhere in the park, and I think it's allowable to mention past history without giving exact locations.
DeleteLovely shots of Shoveler & Gadwall. I did see 10 of the latter at Kew yesterday. Such subtly attractive dabblers.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the female Gingko shot. Not often you seethe females with most trees being male so we don't get the malodorous fruit. Ginkgos seem to be popular street tress these days.
I'm very fond of Gadwalls, like well behaved gentlemen in their country tweed suits while the flashy Mallards quack and chase around them.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't even noticed the ginkgo in the shrubbery till it started dropping fruit, confusingly under a cherry tree because of the slope. Apparently they don't do it till they're 20 years old.
I believe that in China, the ginkgo is considered a delicacy. All I can say, is that I have never smelt anything so terrible coming from a tree.
ReplyDeleteTheodore
Yes. I've smelt the notorious durian and didn't think it was too bad. This is far worse.
DeleteWith regard to the impatient blue tit, it's fair to say that most of the birds we feed tend to develop a sense of entitlement very quickly: one of my more-novel experiences was being told off by a coal tit for being a few seconds late with the pine nuts :)
ReplyDeleteThat's happened to me too.
Delete