Adult and juvenile Robins flitted about in the Flower Walk. Young Robins are appearing everywhere, and it's been a very good year for them.
A family of Wrens whizzed around the reed bed under the edge of the Italian Garden ...
... perching in a swamp cypress ...
... and on the eroded stone crown above the relief of Prince Albert.
A Blue Tit fed a fledgling in a copper beech behind the Albert Memorial.
Another stared from the corkscrew hazel in the Flower Walk ...
... and a tiny Coal Tit achieved an even more imperious look.
The young Great Tits at the northwest corner of the bridge were making a huge racket.
The male Song Thrush was in the half-dead holly tree again. Since we have seen both of the pair here we know that this is the male, who is lighter in colour than his mate.
The male Little Owl at the Round Pond was in the top of the horse chestnut, taking no notice of events on the ground below.
Beside the Serpentine someone was feeding a Grey Heron with tangerine segments, which it caught neatly and seemed to like.
One of the parents of the youngest chicks took off from the island. I still haven't managed to see the chicks again but the other adult is guarding the nest so they seem to be all right.
Another was fishing under the marble fountain in the Italian Garden, with the female Mute Swan and six cygnets in the background.
They were eating algae, which must be a very nutritious food judging from the way they grow, but they also eat snails and small aquatic creatures for extra protein.
The odd couple of the Canada x Greylag Goose hybrid and the pure Canada were at the Lido. The hybrid looks very like the three hybrids I photographed yesterday, including the pink feet. These hybrids are very variable in head pattern and foot colour, but I don't think this one is a sibling of the other three as it's a permanent resident and they only come to moult.
Another Mandarin drake going into eclipse looked sadly tatty at the Triangle. This isn't the one I photographed at the Vista on the 4th, which had lost almost all its breeding plumage.
A pair of Great Crested Grebes preened together on the Serpentine.
A Seven-Spot Ladybird pupa clung to a Stachys leaf in the Rose Garden. (Thanks to Conehead 54 for the identification, and glad it's one of ours and not yet another Harlequin.)
There was a Peregrine above Buckingham Palace in mid-afternoon. There was also one at Cromwell Road at a similar time.
ReplyDeleteTheodore
The Buckingham Palace one may have been from the Houses of Parliament.
DeleteI visited at around 11.00 yesterday, Theodore. The pair were on the building (tiercel in the air to the NE for a while before sweeping up to the roof). No signs that they were incubating or brooding; if they have young, they must be fairly well grown. Didn't hear any calling, but was only there for around 20 minutes. To get a better sense of what's happening, you'll really want to stake out the place for at least a couple of hours, hoping one of the birds brings in some prey.
DeleteDoes anyone know any "urban explorers" who have an interest in birding and could be persuaded to carry some gravel and a tray to ,certain buildings of interest?
I too am a bit confused by their behaviour. I can see them practically every single time I pass but they never seem to be sitting on the nest. They are either wheeling around or sitting on the ledge. I have seen the female carrying a pigeon occasionally but I don't know whether it was for the chicks. Surely, if there were chicks, you would be able to hear them, but I have never heard them. I always hear the adults calling but never chicks
DeleteI did not know that there were Peregrines on the Houses of Parliament.
What you see/hear depends very much on what stage they are at in the nesting season. Have you got an email I could contact you on?
DeleteIf you're looking for Theodore's email address, and he consents to it being given out, please write to me at the address on the blog. People's private addresses shouldn't be published on blogs, as this attracts spam.
DeleteThe Peregrines at the Houses of Parliament nest on the Victoria Tower, the tallest part of the building. I've often seen pictures of them perched on crockets and other bits of Victorian whimsy. A bit of web searching should turn up plenty.
Thank you Ralph, if you could do that, I would be grateful.
DeleteTheodore
Will do when I hear from whoever it is. Wish people would sign anonymous comments, or use the Name/URL system if it works -- it doesn't always.
DeleteHi Ralph, the thought of a family of wrens "whizzing" around the park is delightful...you maybe should consider starting a heron appreciation society.,the pic of one being fed by hand looked quite small....the ladybird pupa pic was very interesting....I have seen nothing more interesting today than an osprey !!!....regards,stephen.
ReplyDeleteHerons are smaller than they look in isolation. See the one on Friday's blog facing the Coots.
DeleteI was baffled by the ladybird pupa, since it was obviously a ladybird but I knew that the larvae are long and spiky, but a chance picture I found put me on the right track.
Ospreys are interesting. I think there has been only one in the park ever, in 1967.
They're making a comeback here, via a re-introduction programme. Not sure if that's wise though. If animals decide to leave an area, I imagine they have their reasons.
DeleteTinúviel
If unfavourable conditions persist the birds won't prosper. A lot of reintroduction programmes here quickly fail.
DeleteI'm not surprised, (only one osprey) maybe there would have some on the Thames going east or in Kent, but central London ?!..apparently there have also been recent sightings of a white stork, (up here, NOT London,!).which was extinct in Britain apparently !!...so, MAYBE they can be encouraged to breed ,(much like the cranes on the somerset levels ?)....regards,Stephen.......
ReplyDeleteAndrew Self's The Birds of London mentions quite a few in outer London. They would have been deterred from the centre by the filthiness of the Thames, with few fish until the 1960s. Now we have quite a lot of Thames Cormorants, a sign that there are fish even if they are little shopsoiled.
DeleteOsprey (and other less common raptors) pass over central London during the migration season. Last May, I think, my brother snapped a photo of one high over Regent's Park - if I remember rightly it was in a thermal with a couple of buzzards and attracted our attention because of its unusual shape/colouration.
DeleteWow, I gasped audibly when seeing the Italian Garden fountain picture. To say that it looks right out of a fairytale would be an understatement. Incredible picture! Were I the editor of any book on myths or legends or fairytales, that picture would be right on the cover.
ReplyDeleteTinúviel
The formal beauty of the garden is much increased by its almost natural background looking down the lake. All artfully achieved of course, the English park landscape is an imitation of Claude Lorrain's Arcadia.
DeleteRalph the ladybird pupa is a7-spot rather than a Harlequin. The latter is quite spiky looking at the rear end.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I thought the spikes disappeared belong the last larval stage and the pupa contained a normal rounded adult.
DeleteOn the larvae it's spiky on the dorsal surface but a different type of spike on the rear end on the pupa, which is still evident when the adult emerges.
DeleteThank you. I learn by making mistakes.
DeleteHi Ralph, a message regarding my comments on storks on the somerset levels, I'm sorry, I got them mixed up with the common CRANES on the Somerset levels...the STORKS have been reintroduced in a project in KNEPP, Sussex......it does however, NOT really explain there recent presence up here !!..regards,Stephen..
ReplyDeletePS, I have also found a copy of that book you mentioned "birds of London" for £35..should I buy it? Regards,Stephen...
ReplyDeleteIt's an excellent reference book and often very interesting, but it has always been pricey. However, there's a much cheaper secondhand copy at £11.99:
Deletehttps://www.amazon.co.uk/Birds-London-Helm-County-Avifauna/dp/140819404X/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Grab it quick before it goes.
Yes, thanks Ralph....PS, sorry again for the slight confusion RE..storks & cranes..regards,Stephen.
ReplyDeleteHi again Ralph, have just bought that last copy from Amazon, thanks for the heads up..regards,Stephen...
ReplyDelete