One of the young Peregrines soared over the bridge.
Later they could both be seen perched on the barracks tower, a respectful distance apart.
They always seem to be here by themselves, never with their parents, which is a shame as I wanted to get a shot of all four together.
Otherwise it was a thoroughly uneventful day. It was a bit cooler and there was a breeze, and the Great Tits in the Flower Walk had come out of shelter to demand pine nuts as usual.
A Coal Tit waited in a yew tree.
The young Robin perched on the railings, and flew down to collect pine nuts from the ground. It should be possible to make friends with it, but this takes time.
The Greenfinch family were flying around in the trees near Peter Pan. This one wasn't doing much, just chirping occasionally, but it's good to get a view of one. The bird call at 25 seconds, just before it flew away, was from a Cetti's Warbler.
A Carrion Crow emerged from the Long Water where it had been cooling down.
The young Grey Herons were together in the nest. Although one of them is now flying down and back it isn't going far, sticking to the area under the nest. Soon it should venture on to the shore, and after that it may be anywhere as it explores the park. But it really is time the other young heron became more adventurous.
The Great Crested Grebe family was in the shade of the trees on the island.
The female Mute Swan and her cygnets were on the gravel strip on the Long Water. They're getting quite large.
Red-Crested Pochards in eclipse have the same brown and grey plumage as females, but their bright red bills and eyes show what sex they are. As usual with ducks there is a surplus of drakes, and they hang around together in all-male gangs.
There was just one Burnet Moth near the Vista. A few years ago there was a breeding colony on the other side of the lake near the Steiner bench and it looked as if we might get a good population of these beautiful moths. But immediately the park management, which as usual didn't have the faintest idea about what was happening on the ground, had the long grass cut down and wiped them out.
Black-Tailed Skimmers are always the commonest species of dragonfly in the park, and much the easiest to photograph as they like to perch on sun-warmed stone and metal. This male was on the railings at the Triangle.
There are plenty of Blue-Tailed Damselflies in the Italian Garden.
The clumps of Verbena bonariensis in the Rose Garden attract various insects, including this Large White butterfly ..
... and the abundant Buff-Tailed Bumblebees.
A recycled Coal Tit pic I see, as was Monday's. "Just testing"? But I dare say I miss most of the likes of these.
ReplyDeleteToday a female Blackbird grabbing a ripe Cherry Laurel berry or two. At least it left what raspberries there were nearby alone, slightly unripe. Jim.
Yes, that was a silly mistake. I meant to put up a different picture, which I used today instead. By my God, what a nitpicker you are.
DeleteWith thousands of pictures published already, the mistake rate is astonishingly low. Not even if you got paid for it would it be lower.
DeleteTinúviel
Thank you.
DeleteThat Peregrine family is really standoffish. I do think the male and the female don't get along all that well on a personal level, but they work well together as parents, so I imagine they do as many humans and will stay together for the kids.
ReplyDeleteTinúviel
I think they're just being Peregrines, surely the least touchy-feely of all birds. Perhaps there's a practical explanation too: if you may plummet off your perch at enormous speed you need a large space around you. You might compare, on a much smaller scale, Pied Wagtails, which can erupt explosively in any direction if they see an insect flying by. They stay well clear of each other.
DeleteThe time for seeing the youngsters doing companionable things, like sitting close to each other and preening each other, would have been a few weeks ago. There's definitely sibling rivalry when it comes to the (decreasing) handouts by their parents. It's not a bad idea to sit a bit further off and hopefully get a headstart when you see your parents flying in with food.
ReplyDeleteThey're also now much more independent, and doing all the teenage (essentially) things like roaming all over the place - so they are not as tight to their parents' home territory as they used to be, but you might still see them play-fighting over the park, which is a wonderful sight. When you're following a juvenile around, and another suddenly flashes past, you get the distinct impression sometimes that its sibling is doing it out of sheer mischief.
I did get a video of them play-fighting on 4 July, almost a month ago. I haven't seen them together in the air since then.
Deleteyesterday afternoon, high over the park, three of them.
ReplyDeleteThank you. Interesting that the family's still (sort of) together.
Delete