Today I went round the park with Sandy Sorkin, who photographs wildly exotic birds in Central America and elsewhere but today had decided to settle for the ordinary inhabitants of the park. It's useful to have two pairs of eyes so we got plenty of pictures, and here are a few.
A male Blackbird at Queen's Gate was collecting worms for his nestlings. They pull up the worms and leave them lying, then hop quickly around and gather them up before they can dig themselves in again.
He passed his mate, who was doing the same.
A hawthorn tree near the Italian Garden contained a pair of Blackcaps ...
... a Wren ...
... and a pair of Blue Tits.
Hawthorns are always a good place to find small insect-eating birds at any time of year. It seems that they have a lot of bugs in them.
A Coal Tit at Mount Gate waited to be fed in an unfamiliar bush. It turns out to be a new Zealand shrub, Griselina littoralis, sometimes called broadleaf privet though it isn't related to European privet.
The usual Chaffinch was near the Serpentine Gallery, and caught several pine nuts.
The bold Robin perched expectantly on a camellia in the Flower Walk.
A female Pied Wagtail searched for insects in the joints of the slate roof of a boathouse.
The Jay I saw yesterday at the Lido was waiting in the same place for a peanut. It doesn't take them long to catch on to a source of food.
A Grey Heron standing bolt upright in the reeds didn't have the camouflage colouring of a Bittern, but nevertheless managed to look quite inconspicuous.
The killer male Mute Swan left his mate on the nesting island ...
... and went off to gather reeds, looking oddly domestic for such a murderous creature. I thought he was going to bring them to his mate, but after several minutes of brisk activity he just left them and swanned off down the Long Water.
There were seven new Egyptian goslings at the Triangle.
The sole survivor at the Lido was browsing among the daisies on the grassy bank.
A Tufted drake turned upside down to preen his shining white belly. This is known as 'roll preening'.
A Small White butterfly perched on a fancy narcissus in the border at the Rose Garden. I've seen some in the distance in the past few days but this is the first picture I've got this year,
I’m happy for the new Gosling arrivals!
ReplyDeleteSean
"Swanned off". I saw what you did there!
ReplyDeleteVery glad you had excellent company. Ordinary birds are one of life's joys.
Tinúviel
I do feel slightly inferior in not having produced any Pratincoles, Bananaquits or Arabian Babblers for him.
DeleteLovely to see both male & female Blackcaps. I've only had males so far.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen a Small White yet, though my partner saw one at Kew last week.
Should be a couple of fairly decent days to come before the return of rain & gloom for much of the first half of April if the forecast is accurate.
Hope those Blackcaps will nest. We have had families in this place several times in recent years.
DeleteMaking the most of any clear days that may arrive but actually vile weather, by keeping people away, makes some sightings more likely. No one enjoys being wet and cold but sometimes it can be worth it.
Yes pross & cons. It was nice seeing a few butterflies again yesterday, including my first male Orange Tip. Think today will be too overcast.
ReplyDeleteHaven't seen an Orange Tip yet. We usually get a few.
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