The Peregrines, having finished raising their two young on the deserted tower block in the Cromwell Road, were again their usual place on the Knightsbridge Barracks. The female was plucking and eating a Feral Pigeon she had caught.
I've visited the Cromwell Road site several times without seeing any activity. It seems likely that the young ones have been chased right out of their parents' territory.
The female Little Owl looked down from the lime tree.
The owlet had been seen flying around, but despite two visits I could only get a picture of it at the back of the nest hole.
There are now a few ripe blackberries on the brambles around the Long Water, and a female Blackbird was looking for them.
Several Chiffchaffs were flitting around in the dead hawthorn tree near the Henry Moore sculpture. This is a young one.
A flock of Long-Tailed Tits was at work in the Japanese crabapple tree in the Triangle.
A Grey Wagtail hunted from a rock in the Dell stream.
The young Grey Herons on the island now have almost full grown flight feathers. Soon they will be climbing around the branches.
The Coot nesting on the post at Peter Pan is still hanging on, quite pointlessly as there is no chance of success here. A young Black-Headed Gull stood on the post.
The Coots under the balcony of the Dell restaurant have lost their chicks -- I think Pigeon Eater may have played some part in this -- and abandoned their nest. A young Moorhen was preening on it.
The Great Crested Grebe on the nest at the island objected to an Egyptian Goose getting too close.
The young foxes in the Dell have no fear of people at all. They feel safe behind the railings and get on with their normal life in full view ...
... only a few feet from onlookers taking pictures of them.
When you stare at one, it stares back at you.
We had a head-on view of a Meadow Brown butterfly only yesterday, but I'm putting up another I took today because it looks like one of Blériot's experimental monoplanes around 1910.
A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee browsed on lime blossom.
Yes it does. Otho Lilienthal took inspiration from storks, so it stands to reason that Blériot should have done the same with Meadow Brown butterflies!
ReplyDeleteTinúviel
It's a shame that Lilienthal's beautiful creations were brought to an end by his untimely death. Blériot's aircraft were boxy and dull. I suppose the most beautiful early aircraft was the Taube, but I don't think it worked very well.
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