Tuesday 21 November 2023

Drizzly day

On a drizzly day with no one on the restaurant terraces to cadge food off, the Starlings were on the grass looking for wireworms and other small creatures.


The young Grey Heron at the Lido restaurant was also missing its usual treats, and had to do a bit of honest fishing.


Great Tits came out everywhere to be given pine nuts. You used to be able to feed them only in certain places such as the Flower Walk, but word seems to have got out and they're all coming now.


The Wren in the leaf yard is a familiar daily sight ...


... as is the Robin in the shrubbery at the northwest corner of the bridge.


The boat hire platform is a convenient hunting station for a Pied Wagtail, as there are insects in the grooves of the planking and midges over the water.


Two wagtails chased each other along the edge of the Serpentine and landed on the edge at the Lido restaurant. They turned out to be the Grey Wagtail and another Pied Wagtail -- I didn't see which was chasing the other. The Grey Wagtail is extremely shy of people ...


... but if you stand still a Pied Wagtail will come right up to you.


There was nothing about the day to tempt the Little Owl at the Round Pond out of her hole ...


... especially as there were Jackdaws on her tree ...


... and Magpies on the ground below.


The odd couple of gulls were at the Triangle car park mooning around together ...


... and the Polish Black-Headed Gull T4UN, a regular visitor for years, was farther along the edge.


In the water nearby the Lesser Black-Back with pale legs was eating a pigeon which it had certainly caught. It's slowly acquiring hunting skills, though still not a patch on the famous gull.


The youngest Great Crested Grebe is still with its parents. They were far out in the middle of the Serpentine.


Shovellers on the Long Water circled around slurping up tiny water creatures while a Pochard dived among them.


It's odd that we regularly get a lot of Shovellers and Pochards while other minority ducks such as Teal and Wigeon remain very rare here.

I met Bill Haines and Samuel Levy, who had seen a Little Egret flying over the Round Pond. Although these are getting commoner around London they are still very seldom seen in the park. This is one I photographed over the Long Water in 2016.


The messages on Japanese hoodies are one of life's enigmas.

3 comments:

  1. Yes, the Japanese message is certainly a mysterious one indeed! Who really knows what the Japs are up too!.. it does all seem a bit hush hush within that part of the world.

    It would be a glorious greeting to see Egrets visit the park on a regular basis.
    Sean

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  2. I seem to remember reading about someone famous who had a cape made in Japan embroidered with Japanese lettering. Unbeknownst to him, it apparently said, "Get your potatoes here".

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    1. Very funny. If it was made in Japan it must have been a deliberate joke on the gaijin.

      My favourite Japlish hoodie slogan, which unfortunately I saw when I didn't have a camera, was 'Throwing up vigorously since 1975.'

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