It's not just Redwings that are taking advantage of the fenced-off Parade Ground. Among other birds there are Pied Wagtails, Starlings, Jackdaws, Carrion Crows, Herring Gulls, Black-Headed Gulls, Wood Pigeons and Egyptian Geese.
A Blackbird dashed around at the edge of the Rose Garden.
A Dunnock sang a couple of phrases beside the Henry Moore sculpture, just long enough for me to find and photograph it.
A pair of Long-Tailed Tits are constantly at the northwest corner of the bridge, and must be making a nest in the bushes here.
A forsythia bush by Mount Gate is coming into bloom, making an attractive background for a Great Tit ...
... and a Blue Tit.
A Magpie perched on the metal crown that makes an ornamental chimney for the gas lamps beside the Serpentine.
The female Peregrine was alone on the tower again. Her mate is much more inclined to wander around than she is.
The young Grey Herons had quietened down and were out of sight at the bottom of the nest. One adult guarded them ...
... while the other looked down from a treetop.
One of the pair in the nest at the west end of the island is always in place now ...
... and there is a new pair in the small nest at the east end. This nest isn't large enough to use, but they could always take over one of the larger unused nests left over from previous years to save the trouble of building it up.
A young Herring Gull payed with a rubber glove.
It's only when you see the pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Back standing next to some Egyptian Geese that you realise what a hulking great bird he is.
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The Black Swan was on the Round Pond, temporarily away from his girlfriend and calling to her. When he saw me standing on the edge he came over, hoping for food. Well, grass is good for him and he gets more than enough rubbish from visitors.
The mahonia bushes in the Rose Garden are almost through with flowering, but there was enough left to attract a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee. Other flowers are beginning to come out so they won't face a shortage.
It's always a joy to hear a dunnock sing - wish they did it more often!
ReplyDeleteWhen they get going, the Rose Garden is a good place.
DeleteHi Ralph,
ReplyDeletepigeon eater is probably a morning guy, I came later in the afternoon and plenty of adult herring gulls around and he was nowhere to be seen else I can't imagine he would have been happy about his potential competitors. It seems like he has got a 2pm cap.
Jenna
Yes, I think he has an early breakfast pigeon on most days. That picture was taken at 14:22.
DeleteI know you don't want to hear it but someday I may pay for his taxidermy and he will be displayed in The Natural History Museum with his lifetime legacy - free pest control services for Hyde Park ( I don't consider pigeons as pests myself ).
DeleteJenna
You won't find him. When he feels the end approaching he will creep off into a corner and die in decent privacy. When did you last see a dead Herring Gull or Lesser Black-Back?
DeleteI found a dead Herring Gull in a bush near where you used to put your bird feeder. It seemed like it had some kind of injury becuase of the blood.
DeleteTheodore
I wonder what got it. Would even the biggest rat dare attack one? Male Sparrowhawk that was too small to lift it? A Peregrine would have carried it away.
DeleteDoes the Black Swan approach anyone touting for food, or is he making an exception for you? I wouldn't put it past it that he has learned that you feed other birds from the bird grapevine.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why the heron parent should so zealously guard the chicks. It looks to me they are so large and so high up there must not be many natural predators able to reach them.
With the park swans, black or white, all you have to do is stand at the edge of the water with a bag of some kind and they will come over at speed.
DeleteHeron chicks, at least when very young and relatively small, are predated by big gulls and crows, so the height of the nest offers no protection. Parents protect their young by instinct, even when there is no longer much need for it.