The female Little Owl at the Round Pond was visible in a horse chestnut tree, though she was well hidden among the leaves and it took three quarters of an hour's dodging about to find the only place she could be seen from.
The Sparrowhawks from Hyde Park often do a tour of Kensington Gardens in the morning, not always at the same time and you have to be lucky to spot them. Ahmet Amerikali was, and found the female in an oak tree at the southwest corner of the bridge.
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He also got a good picture of one of the Goldcrests nesting here ...
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... and I got a shot of one of the local Long-Tailed Tits above their nest in the brambles.
Another Long-Tailed Tit preened on a branch in the Dell. It's one of the pair nesting in a bush below.
A Robin in the Rose Garden was nervous, probably owing to a Jay on a branch above.
One of the Coal Tits at Mount Gate managed to knock a Robin off my hand in a furious kamikaze dive.
A Blackcap sang at Peter Pan.
A Magpie strolled through the daisies on the grassy bank at the Lido.
The single Mandarin drake was also here ...
... and so were the Egyptian Geese with the eldest gosling.
The Egyptians with very young goslings were keeping them by the boat hire platform so that they could hide under it if danger threatened. You could see eight of them, but it's possible that a ninth was under the platform.
A pair on top of a pollarded tree by the Serpentine saw rivals on the ground below and yelled at them. They got a defiant answer, but in the end the rivals crept away grumbling.
The Mallard at the boathouse is still managing to hold on to her five ducklings. This picture was taken through a barrier put up by people working on the boathouse, which is giving them useful protection from swooping gulls.
The Black Swan was preening at the Dell restaurant, without his girlfriend for the second day running. It's possible that they've split up after their failed attempt to settle in a nest.
The nine Coot chicks in the Italian Garden fountain were milling about while their parents fed them. This one is getting a larva.
In the Flower Walk a female Hairy-Footed Flower Bee worked over a patch of ajuga ...
... but a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee preferred green alkanet.
Darn, I was rooting for the Black Swan and his girlfriend to be together! It's been several times that the mixed couples look promising and then it fizzles out.
ReplyDeleteWe're not sure yet. We are in the position of the reporters of Hola making vague predictions about Felipe and Letizia. Except, I suppose, that the swans won't sue us.
DeleteHow amazing to see a Sparrowhawk!!
ReplyDeleteThat poor Black Swan! Forever seeming bleak. If only he could be with his own kind. I take it the female Mute gave up on him and his jargon..
Sean
How awesome to see the Sparrowhawk! I found the Peregrine Falcon at Cromwell Road this morning
ReplyDeleteTheodore
Still no return of the Peregrines to the barracks. They haven't been absent so long for years.
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