A group of Long-Tailed Tits swept through the Flower Walk ...
...bringing other birds with them including a Coal Tit.
A male Chaffinch ...
... and his mate flitted around in the Rose Garden.
At the end of the Serpentine a Wood Pigeon wandered through the daffodils, one of the few plants they don't eat.
A container of nasty-looking takeaway food dumped at the Triangle car park attracted Black-Headed Gulls.
The Triangle is notorious for this behaviour. People turn up with the most unsuitable leftovers, park their cars and slouch the few feet to the edge of the water where they simply chuck the stuff on the ground.
The Grey Heron was faithfully attending the nest. I still haven't heard or seen chicks but they have to be here, or the herons wouldn't be behaving in this way.
Seen from close up, the old heron at the Henry Moore sculpture looks very old indeed.
Two of the Egyptian goslings at the Round Pond are still clinging to life amid constant danger from Herring Gulls ...
... and Carrion Crows.
Their parents took them ashore to browse on the grass -- but that brings an additional danger from dogs. I'm surprised any have lasted this long in such an exposed place.
A pair of Egyptians made a racket on the sawn-off poplar at Peter Pan ...
... and one of the Italian Garden pair was enjoying a shower in the marble fountain. I've only seen one here is recent days, so it seems likely that the female is nesting in a nearby tree hole.
Mallard drakes are sex fiends. Any female who dares show herself gets relentlessly chased.
Humans are no better. I dread to think what she remembers on cards 1 to 6.
But life goes on. Yellow crocuses were out beside the Long Water ...
... and there was a heavy crop of Oyster Mushrooms on a dead tree near the Serpentine Gallery.
Blimey! What with the mallards and that sad and worrying lady, this is quite a heavy post.... thank goodness for the daffodils and crocus
ReplyDeleteI am a camera.
DeleteHi Ralph,
ReplyDeleteI saw the old Fossil heron tonight, he was having his usual chicken breasts. He is still feisty and stands his ground. Other people feed him fish too, though they come to feed other herons as well, so I don't know if they particularly notice him as a priority elderly chap.
To be honest I don't know whether it's good that he is outliving his usual age because of constant food donations, or whether it's wrong to keep him going.
What do you personally think?
Jenna
He's still holding his territory and repelling intruding herons. His spirit is still alive. And I've seen him fishing by the gravel strip. He might be getting some.
DeleteThe cruelty of the natural world does not seem to differ at all from all species that walk this life. That beggarly Spanish dama deserves more, and some care and attention, that she graves. Shame on her parents!
ReplyDeleteSean
Scratching my head hard about that card in Spanish. It looks to me like something staged or scripted (the words are accented correctly - that alone is cause for suspecting a script), like playing a part for social media, or making a performance. She doesn't look haggard or ill or miserable to me.
ReplyDeleteYes, I had similar thoughts. But she was wandering along the bridge completely alone. It just conceivably might be a stunt by the loopy folk at the Serpentine Gallery.
DeleteDelightful shot of the Long-tailed Tit, enhanced by the colours of the dogwood, which looks rather like Cornus "Midwinter Fire".
ReplyDeleteEnvious of your Chaffinches! We lost our breeding birds around here a few years back but we used to get wintering flocks, but nothing this year. They are missed. Richmond Park, which isn't local to me, is about the only site I regularly visit where I can still encounter them.
I wouldn't say we have a lot of Chaffinches, but this is one of three pairs I regularly see on my daily round.
Delete