Another beautiful sunny freezing day. The sunshine brought out the Little Owl at the Round Pond. She now uses the hole in the end of the diagonal branch as entrance and exit rather than the hole in the trunk where she used to be seen. Probably this is something to do with the intrusion of the squirrel.
The male Chaffinch followed me the whole way from the Flower Walk to the Round Pond.
The band of Great Tits that come out to be fed at the south end of the bridge is growing steadily. This is one in the Portuguese laurel next to the parapet.
Several Blue Tits emerged from a myrtle bush behind the Albert Memorial ...
... and one Coal Tit which so far hasn't plucked up courage to come to my hand, but I think it will.
A Wood Pigeon came down to drink from the pool at the top of the Dell waterfall.
The Grey Heron was waiting by the nest as usual.
It was just possible to see the sitting bird from time to time when they started nesting, but nothing has been visible for several days now. Nevertheless I think the nest is still a going concern. If not, the other heron wouldn't be waiting patiently in the next tree. I've several times assumed that a heron nest has failed, and then been surprised by the clacking of chicks begging for food.
The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull is losing the dark streaks on his head and going into his smart breeding plumage. He took a swipe at a pigeon and missed, but he always gets one eventually.
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Moorhens can see off Black-Headed Gulls but they are afraid of aggressive Coots, and this one had been chased on to a post. The Coot couldn't get up the post, but the Moorhen could only escape by flying.
There would have been far more Moorhens in the parks before Coots were deliberately introduced in the 1920s. They are good at living in poor habitats, prepared to eat almost anything and to work hard to find it. One was going through a patch of nasty debris at the edge of the Serpentine ...
... and a young one was checking the joins in the paving stones in the Italian Garden.
A pair of Gadwalls fed companionably side by side in a fountain pool. They are much quieter and better behaved than the noisy rowdy Mallards.
A Tufted drake dived for food. Their smart black and white plumage makes them quite visible under water.
A little procession of Pochard drakes cruised past the gravel strip at the Vista.
On the near side the killer Mute Swan and his mate were preening.
A camellia bush behind the Albert Memorial has rashly come into flower.
Back home past the splendidly ridiculous statue group of America. Three stalwart women, from left to right Canada, America herself, and Columbia representing the United States, join forces to subdue the buffalo spirit of the land. Two men out of view at the back are doing nothing to help.
Maybe the men had the right idea in leaving the buffalo to mind its own business.
ReplyDeleteI would imagine the small birds must be dreadfully hungry. I know ours are, and it's not half as cold as it is over there.
"Not for lack of trying", I imagine the Coot muttering to itself.
The original design for the America group had the Noble Savage (you can just see his knee as he sits on the right of this picture) sinking his tomahawk in the neck of the buffalo. Even the Victorians thought this was a bit bloody, so the design was changed to show Columbia bashing it on the head with an iron rod. The man on the left looks like Wild Bill Hickok after his clothes have been stolen while he was taking his annual bath. He holds an amazingly badly carved Winchester carbine but has clearly not shot the buffalo with it.
DeleteI am constantly getting a storm of hungry tits when I cross the Flower Walk, against which the bullying Robin is powerless though he gets a good share.
I found a Woodpecker today!
ReplyDeleteTheodore
Well done.
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