A Robin in the Rose Garden looked ornamental among rose hips, but was nervous with people passing close by on the path. It's too public a place for singing, but it had an occasional quiet twitter.
A Blue Tit in the Flower Walk was fed up with being photographed and wanted another pine nut.
A Magpie was also waiting in a red oak beside the Vista.
Two good pictures by Mark Williams: a Jay in St James's Park snatching a nut from his hand ...
... and a Carrion Crow on a dead tree near the Flower Walk.
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The Little Owl at the Round Pond was still staying on her favourite horse chestnut branch.
The Peregrines were together on the barracks tower. The female, on the right here, is still being exasperating about showing her left leg with the plastic ring I am trying to read.
Starlings gathered and chattered on the Lido restaurant terrace.
A Mute Swan had found a tasty patch of grass on the edge of the terrace, and wasn't going to let the noisy crowd of humans put it off eating.
The pigeon-killing Lesser Black-Backed Gull had finished his lunch, leaving his son to finish off the remains. (I really do think his offspring is male, as it's very large.)
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When the proprietorial Black-Headed Gull is not on the landing stage he owns, he's usually found looking over his territory from the head of the Big Bird statue.
Cormorants crowded on the fallen poplar in the Long Water.
A Great Crested Grebe on the nest at the bridge was watchful. There were a lot of Mallards around and it didn't want one claiming the nest again.
The youngest chick from the island has started to fish for itself. But when it saw a parent on the other side of the lake it hurried over and started begging again.
A squirrel carried a conker up a horse chestnut tree. They seem to be able to deal with the poisonous alkalods the seeds contain. I am not sure whether the large reddish brown bracket fungus is an old Beefsteak Fungus, Fistulina hepatica, or a Ganoderma species. Update: Mario tells me it's G. resinaceum.
And I have no idea about the species of these tiny white mushrooms under another horse chestnut across the road from the Serpentine Gallery. Update: not enough detail for Mario to identify.
I only passed by on the bike today but I did see the Peregrines.
ReplyDeleteTheodore
They're getting easier with each other and perching quite close. About time too.
ReplyDeleteHello Ralph, whereabouts is this "big bird" statue exactly, I don't remember it, regards, Stephen..
ReplyDeleteIt's next to the Diana Memorial Drain, almost on the lakeside.
DeleteDiana memorial drain !!..ah yes, I remember it now...quite a large structure....thanks, regards , Stephen..
DeleteDid he get fed? I hope the begging paid off.
ReplyDeleteThat Blue Tit is so mad its cap is raised. It's quite funny!
BTW, I've seen pictures of a leucistic Magpie someone took in Madrid today. An astonishing all-white bird. The observer said the poor thing was bullied by all magpie except its mate.
Tinúviel
They always get fed. Who could refuse a bird?
DeleteLeucism seems to affect corvids quite often. I've seen pictures of white Carrion Crows and Ravens.
The bracket fungus is Lacquered bracket (Ganoderma resinaceum), fairly common in the park. As for the white ones, I can't see enough details for an identification
ReplyDeleteMario
Thank you very much. I had wondered about G. resinaceum because of the amount of sticky stuff on the cap, but two web sites I looked at said it was 'rare'.
DeleteLovely shots of the Magpie in the oak. It is a red oak but not the Red Oak as the leaf sinuses are too incised. A closely related species that looks to be one of the pin oaks. I find the Red Oak, which is very common in our parks, very rarely turn red over here, usually a yellowish-brown. Both Scarlet & Pin Oaks are much better for autumn colour as in your photo.
ReplyDeleteThe other day at Kew near the Palm House the Southern Pin Oak was a glorious colour.
There is a baffling variety of foreign oaks in the park and I am constantly coming across more.
Delete[No dice with two VPNs. This thing hates me]
ReplyDeleteWouldn't it be great if we had a new generation of Peregrines thanks to Ralph?
It's astonishing how much lighter and more mobile the black swan is.
tinúviel
I tries to work out an average weight for Mute and Black Swans -- Mutes in particular are hugely variable. Taking both sexes together, it's something like 11 kg for Mute, 7 kg for Black. This makes all the difference when they walk.
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