After the excitement of yesterday it was back to normal service on a grey drizzly day, but the female Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery added some distinction to the proceedings. She was flying around the trees and paused for a few seconds in the nest tree, looking back over her shoulder.
There was also a view of a Reed Warbler singing in the Diana fountain reed bed -- a bird I hadn't got a picture of at Rainham although there were plenty.
A Robin in the Rose Garden found a sheltered place to sing under the spreading branches of the Caucasian elm.
The pair at Mount Gate came out as usual to demand pine nuts.
At least 30 Swifts were hunting high over the Serpentine. On a day like this you'd have expected the insects to come down low and the Swifts to skim over the water catching them, but the insects had other plans.
A large part of the diet of Swifts consists of spiderlings parachuting on silk threads, which are much more numerous than you would suppose. But they wouldn't have been around today as the weather would have weighed their threads down with raindrops.
The female Peregrine was by herself on the tower again.
There were plenty of Grey Herons: I saw thirteen not counting the young ones in the nest. Three stood on roof of one the boathouses, two on the other. Two on the fallen poplar at the Vista were joined by a third flying in.
The two young herons in the island nest looked down at the sitting adult in the nest nearby.
The Great Crested Grebes on the Long Water still have at least one chick. They will need luck and hard work to keep it alive at this time of year.
The pair at the boat hire platform clearly want to nest, but they can't find a site.
Something I noticed at Rainham: a pair there are have no nesting place although there are abundant reeds. The grebes in the London area don't seem to realise that they can make nests from reeds, which is something that grebes in the Norfolk Broads do routinely.
And so do Coots everywhere. A pair nesting on the plastic buoys at the Lido added a reed to the nest.
One of the seven chicks in the Italian Garden took a break on the nest before going back out to beg for food.
Two male Mute Swans at the island circled each other menacingly, though the display prevented a fight from breaking out. One of them was the swan who nests here, third in the pecking order on the lake. He was on his territory and repelling the other, which indeed leave later.
All is well so far with the nest at the Serpentine outflow.
However, the nest at the boathouse is deserted -- probably for the best, as it would never have succeeded.
The Greylag Geese with two goslings hurried to the safety of the water ...
... as a dog left off the lead by an irresponsible owner raced towards them.
The Egyptians on the other side have kept their four out of danger for another day.
The Mallard with five ducklings, now healthy teenagers, was just up the shore. She really deserves a Hero Mother of the Serpentine medal for keeping so many alive in the most adverse circumstances.
Hello Ralph,
ReplyDeleteI was at the Vista today standing by the shoreline and The Killer happened to be in the water near me. First he was biting my shoes aggressively and then got out of the water and started hissing at me and pecking me all over. I had to quickly move away. He is utterly insufferable and a very odd swan. He now developed some blue bumps on his bill which make him
look even more devil like.
Yes, he's drunk on power. But he's only a swan and can't be held responsible for his acts.
DeleteWould all swans get drunk on power, I wonder. Do they have personalities? I think they do, and this one is a particularly brutish individual coasting on his strength and his beauty.
DeleteTinúviel
I'm sure swans have personalities. For example, the male of the previous resident pair on the Long Water, now killed by the current thug, was insufficiently thuggish. For some time before the final fatal fight you could see him shrinking from confrontations. He had been chosen by the female the previous year after her previous mate died in unknown circumstances, and as it turned out she chose wrong. She too paid for that choice with her life.
DeleteSome shocking news I am hearing from Golders Hill Park: after the current resident pair of Egyptian Geese had managed to raise four young to a decent size, the male drowned one of them, in the presence of the female. The witness who I know well was had been following the birds very closely and it seems unlikely the male can have been an interloper; the remaining young are still doing fine several days after, with both adults still present. Jim
ReplyDeleteHow strange. I wouldn't have been surprised if an interloper had done that, but not their father. Or perhaps her mate isn't their father?
DeleteVery sad news about the goslings, WHEN are these people with dogs going to learn ?.some sort of temp plastic type barrier around the edge of the lake could be a solution ??.regards,Stephen...
ReplyDeleteWouldn't work. The geese need to get ashore to graze.
DeleteI was going to say, wow she's turning her head 180 degrees! I didn't know the mechanism through which owls rotate their heads almost 360 degrees.
ReplyDeleteSomeone please explain me what is going on through swans' heads to think that harmoniously swimming circles around each other can be construed as a threat!
Tinúviel
The swans are challenging each other by, first, trying to look bigger than the other and, second, standing their ground in the face of the challenge. Since they are very close to each other, either can abandon the circling in an instant and launch a full-scale attack, shoulder-charging and pecking the other. I've seen this happen when for some reason the delicate balance of threat and bluff failed. So they are nearer to fighting than it might appear from the graceful dance. Obviously any challenging ritual is preferable to fighting in which the swan might get hurt, so the behaviour reinforces itself.
DeleteYes of COURSE geese need to graze, silly me !...regards,Stephen..
ReplyDelete