Friday 28 June 2024

A good day for Wagtails

A young Pied Wagtail ran around the lawn by the Albert Memorial calling for its father to feed it.


They flew up on to the Memorial steps and a second young one joined them.


Another at the Round Pond had found a small larva.


A Grey Wagtail hunted along the muddy edge of the Serpentine.


A family of Reed Warblers were bustling around in the reeds below the Diana fountain. This is a young one.


Chiffchaffs have a long singing season, and this one is still going at the end of June when most songbirds have fallen silent.


The usual Chaffinch arrived at the Serpentine Gallery and called loudly for pine nuts.


A young Carrion Crow begged a parent to feed it, without result. So it grabbed a peanut and ran off with it.


The Little owlet at the Round Pond looked out of the nest hole.


Its mother, not seen for some time, was in the lime tree.


When I went back later the father was in the same tree on his usual branch.


Quite a lot of Black-Headed Gulls have now returned to the Round Pond and were loafing on the gravel strip.


A Grey Heron was fishing under the Italian Garden, waiting for an incautious fish to come out from under the mat of algae.


Moorhens can run over the algae as long as they don't stop.


The pair of Great Crested Grebes on the Long Water by the bridge were hanging around a Coot's nest looking envious. It's much better built than the sloppy mess they made themselves.


A pair on the Serpentine were fishing together. They took a moment off work to have a little display.


The precarious nest on the chain at the island is still intact.


All kinds of things go on in the Buck Hill shelter, from Aikido to Zumba, but a Chinese fan dance lesson is a new one for me.

6 comments:

  1. Hi Ralph, great pic of the little SCOWLET..this evening.....has the pumpkin blown away yet ??
    .regards,Stephen..

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    1. No, the wagtail at the Round Pond was right under the pumpkin, which has a frame of girders that would support a regiment of elephants.

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  2. Ha, ha.!! ,yes I can see wooden decking or something equally dreadful....oh well, never mind...regards,Stephen..

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    1. Some kind of recycled plastic, I think. They need to take it up quickly or the pumpkin will be surrounded by a large area of permanently killed grass.

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  3. It's a lovely dance by the looks of it, but they still have a long way to go to make it seem graceful.
    It always looks to me immensely charming how young wagtails will wag their tails so pronouncedly, especially compared to the adults.
    Tinúviel

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    Replies
    1. I think it was only their first lesson.

      Possibly the exaggerated tail wagging of the young is a form of begging, or at least drawing the attention of the parent.

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