A Blackbird was in full song in a treetop on Buck Hill.
A Mistle Thrush clattered in a tree on the other side of the path. They have been very scarce recently, and hardly any of the usual winter migrants have shown up.
But we have a surprising number of Song Thrushes. This is the one I filmed singing yesterday beside the Henry Moore sculpture.
Another was on the other side of the lake by the bridge, angrily scolding a Magpie that had come too near, probably a sign that it's nesting. It eventually stopped bouncing around and allowed its picture to be taken.
A male Greenfinch twittered and wheezed in a treetop at Mount Gate.
The usual crew were here waiting to be fed. As long as this Blue Tit keeps posing against pretty backgrounds, I'm going to go on photographing it. This is the forsythia bush ...
... and this is a pink-flowered currant bush next to it.
Even a Carrion Crow did its best to look sweet against a floral background.
The Robin took three pine nuts, flying in and out for each one. When they get really confident they just stand on your hand and take as many as they can carry.
The female Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery came out in the afternoon.
Both Peregrines were on the tower an unsocial distance apart.
What a hideous structure this is, no thanks to the oddly celebrated Sir Basil Spence. This is what the previous Household Cavalry barracks looked like, a stodgy but perfectly pleasant building of 1880.
The two young Grey Herons in the nest on the Serpentine island clattered their bills furiously at a parent to make it feed them. No wonder the parents tend to stay in other trees.
The nest at the west end of the island seems well established.
Cormorants in breeding plumage get bristly white feathers on their head to varying degrees, but this one at Peter Pan has gone pure white.
The killer Mute Swan, who won the nesting island on the Long Water by murdering its original tenants, was beginning to make a nest there with his mate.
The Black Swan and huis girlfriend haven't settled down to nesting yet, if indeed they are going to, and are wandering around various possible sites. A Coot greatly resented them looking at its own nesting place.
The Pochard x Tufted Duck hybrid drake was with a group of Tufted drakes at the Lido, all vying for the attention of a single female.
Sunday is the day for the rollerskate dancers on the Serpentine Road by the Cavalry Memorial. The daffodils may be wilted but this one is still going strong.
I'm astonished that a man that isn't so young any longer should be able to dance on skates. Admirable.
ReplyDeleteThat Coot looks crazy enough to attempt to stand up to both swans if they dare to encroach.
I saw today a funny scene starring a Heron: there was a handful of terrapins sunning themselves on a rock outcrop. A Heron landed on it, and as soon as it touched down, they all launched themselves, diver like, into the water. I had never seen terrapins moving so fast in my life.
Tinúviel
Yes, I've seen terrapins moving surprisingly fast when they are trying to grab ducklings. They often succeed. But I wonder why they were so frightened of a heron, which would not be able to harm any but the tiniest terrapin. Perhaps they have a general fear of birds in case one should be an eagle likely to carry a terrapin to a height and drop it on the head of a passing tragedian.
DeleteA very handsome Cormorant, Ralph! The hybrid duck is also quite striking.
ReplyDeleteI was pleased to see a pair of Greenfinch back on the feeders yesterday. For nearly 2 years we had none & then late last year had up to 3 birds visiting, which disappeared again a couple of weeks back. Nice to see a Greenfinch & a Goldfinch together on the sunflower hearts feeder.
In the park I typically hear male Greenfinches singing twice a day, but Goldfinhes twittering only once a week or less. Puzzled by this, especially as Goldfinhes are quite common in the surrounding streets.
DeleteInteresting you haven't seen the peregrines "bowing" to each other (what the books call "ledge display"). This is the time of the year it happens most often, and I've seen it last five times I've been to Hyde Park and seen both birds on the ledge, at times of the day from early to very late. You might need to be further away from the building than you are in most of your photos though, to better see into the ledge.
ReplyDeleteNo, I haven't seen it, but will watch out for it. I always leave the tower at right angles to the front and look back several times as I go, but the birds have so far been resolutely standoffish.
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