There is now a second Great Crested Grebe nest on the Long Water, in an oak on the east side near the bridge. This place has been used in previous years.
Three male Reed Warblers were singing in the Diana memorial reed bed and I got a picture of one of them. There was also one singing on the Long Water.
Otherwise it wasn't much of a day for small birds, but I found a new Robin in a holly near the Vista ...
... and the usual Wren in the leaf yard.
A Pied Wagtail hunted insects from the jetty.
Overnight rain had left puddles for a Carrion Crow to dunk a bit of bread.
A Hobby passed over the Albert Memorial.
A Grey Heron searched for twigs to add to its nest, but rejected them because they were too small.
The larger stems were too flexible to snap and too tough to bite through, so it was on the wrong plant which was a patch of dead purple loosestrife left from last year.
However, the two nests above have plenty of twigs of adequate size got from various trees and bushes. The chicks are in the nest at top right.
Meanwhile the two young herons from the first nest have both survived the dangerous transition to independence. One was fishing on the small waterfall in the Dell ...
... and the other was at the reed bed east of the Lido.
Just round the corner from here the Mallard family with five ducklings were alarmed for a moment by a passing adult heron, but the ducklings are now too large to snatch so all was well.
Yesterday Virginia saw a Mandarin drake on a branch of the willow at the Triangle. The single female has been out of sight for a while and is probably nesting nearby.
%202024%201a.jpg)
Today there were three drakes on the path underneath, and a fourth farther down the lake.
The Egyptian goslings on the Serpentine have paid the price for their parents' inattention and are now down to four.
The Coot family from the nest at Peter Pan came into sight for a moment.
The five chicks in the northeast pool in the Italian Garden were in hot pursuit of their parents.
Bluebells and buttercups beside the Long Water.
I can only imagine what it must be like to be followed so doggedly by five hungry, very persistent Coots. Even if one is itself a Coot.
ReplyDeleteTinúviel
They do sometimes chase away their pushier chicks.
DeleteThere's a "lovely" little sequence in "Life of Birds" that shows the parent bullying a chick until it leaves (and perishes).Good to see the pretty mandarins and nice shot of the peregrine.
DeleteI've seen Coots bullying chicks, but I think always putting down the pushiest so that demand evens out.
Delete