A Blackcap beside the Long Water gave the quiet high-pitched 'seep' call made and understood by many songbirds, meaning that there's a predator overhead -- in this case a Magpie in the top of the tree.
He recovered from his fright and began to sing again, quietly at first.
Wrens usually yell at the top of their voice, but this one beside the Long Water was singing softly, as if to itself.
A Coal Tit by the bridge looked for insects in an oak tree.
A Magpie flew on to the horse ride near the Triangle carrying a beakful of chips, which it must have harvested from the Lido restaurant on the other side of the lake.
It buried them in the sand. I wish I'd been closer to get a better picture of this behaviour.
A Grey Heron flew into the nest at the east end of the island and was greeted by two ravenous chicks.
The Coots with nine chicks in the Italian Garden have started parking some of them on their old nest from last year. There isn't room for all of them, and the others were off chasing their other parent.
Five of the six chicks in the other pool were in their original nest, with the last one outside pestering a parent.
The Egyptian Geese at the Lido took their single gosling on to the water to avoid a dog. The gosling has some slight scars from a gull or crow attack which it has luckily survived.
The family on the other side of the Serpentine have lost one and are down to seven.
The Mallards at the boathouse have also lost one duckling and have five left.
Joan Chatterley got a good picture of two Mallard drakes fighting over a female in Battersea Park.
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Abigail Day reported that the Black Swan had tried to approach his former girlfriend and she had hurried away. So the poor bird has indeed been dumped.
Two black and yellow caterpillars climbed up and down on threads at the southwest corner of the bridge. I've tried to identify them but, not for the first time, failed.
Update: Stephen suggests that it's a sawfly larva, and it looks as if he's right. See the comments below.
Later: No, it isn't. See Friday's blog post.
The patch of green alkanet in the Flower Walk is the bees' favourite at the moment, and was visited by a male Hairy-Footed Flower Bee ...
... a female ...
... and a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee.
The Grey Heron chicks look so cute and so terrifyingly evil at the same time!!
ReplyDeleteMust say I’ve never seen a corvid bury a crisp before! It must have crumbled into pieces upon descending.
Sean
Hi Ralph could the caterpillars possibly be sinebar or sawfly ? Great to see the Egyptian gosling surviving, it SHOULD be ok now ? Regards,Stephen..
ReplyDeleteYes, it looks very like the larva of the Poplar Sawfly Cladius grandis though it wasn't in a poplar -- I must check the species of that bush, which I forgot to do. No wonder I couldn't find it in my butterfly and moth book. Thank you very much for the help.
DeleteKeep your fingers crossed for the little Egyptian. It's a dangerous world.
Yes, indeed, by the way, I still intend to send you some barn owl pics, but the people who am learning from, are not keen on having cameras around...regards,Stephen.
ReplyDeleteThey'll be welcome if you can manage.
DeleteWill do..remember, it was you that rekindled my interest in birds in the first place...hence now daily birdwatching/volunteering/and an OU biology degree.....regards,Stephen...
ReplyDeleteGosh. Did I finally, after 75 years, have any effect on anyone?
DeleteYou've had an effect on multiple someones!
DeleteTinúviel
So it seems, Surprised by this.
DeleteAn encouraging effect on many of us, I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteOne of the reasons why I’m a docent at local nature preserve is because of your blog, Ralph! - A daily reader from California
ReplyDeleteMe too! From Zimbabwe
ReplyDeleteThank you all. So twelve years' slog has not been in vain.
DeleteYouve changed my world Ralph, Youre the best
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words.
DeleteRalph you are my hero all way from jordan
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you too.
DeleteOi, poor Black Swan. I wonder what was the reason he got so heartlessly dumped.
ReplyDeleteI don' t think I've ever seen a Magpie burying something. Jays hide things in holes, for sure, but that's not the same as burying their food.
Tinúviel
Carrion Crows and Rooks cache things too, I think. It seems to be a general corvid behaviour.
DeleteThere is at least one magpie in Kensington Gardens that will fly away with a peanut and cache it then come back for another. I'm surprised the crows haven't learned this. They immediately set about opening the shell and eating the nuts, by which time the opportunity for a second helping has gone.
ReplyDeleteI think at least some of the Carrion Crows do cache things. I've noticed them returning too soon to have eaten the peanut and not carrying it, which you could see by the absence of a bulge in their throat. Esther Woolfson's pet Rook certainly cached food.
Delete