On a hot day most of the birds were sheltering in the bushes. Luckily Tom sent some pictures taken a couple of days ago to add to the poor haul I got.
Robins are starting to sing again all over the park after their summer break. This one was in the Rose Garden shrubbery, and is the parent of the young one we've seen here several times.
Song Thrushes sing occasionally outside the nesting season, but this one near Peter Pan wasn't in the mood and had its beak open because it was hot.
Tom got a good picture of a Wren ...
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... and Ahmet Amerikali captured another clinging uncomfortably to the railings.
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Starlings cooled down by splashing on the shore at the edge of the Lido restaurant terrace.
One of the young Pied Wagtails from the Round Pond hunted in the grass near Temple Gate.
Tom photographed one of the young Peregrines over the Flower Walk.
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But there is sad news: their mother is dead. She was picked up at the beginning of the month after colliding with a building and identified by her red plastic ring. We shall have to see what happens now. Will the male be able to find a new mate and claim the place on the barracks tower which at the moment is occupied by his two offspring? Also, apparently the empty hotel in the Cromwell Road where the pair nested seems to have been sold at last and scaffolding is being put up for renovations, which will probably last well into the next nesting season.
Another interesting picture from Tom: a Carrion Crow squabbling with a Grey Heron on a dead tree near the Round Pond. The two species are inveterate enemies.
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Fortunately this wasn't the Little Owls' dead tree, where all was calm and the female was preening on her usual branch in the adjacent lime tree.
Tom photographed a Great Crested Grebe which had caught an awkwardly large perch and was struggling to swallow it.
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The pair under the bridge have abandoned their half-hearted attempt to nest again.
A Coot ate an apple. It's remarkable how many birds like apples, and they always prefer them to any other fruit.
The pale Greylag was with its mate. If they ever manage to breed it will be interesting to see how the goslings turn out.
A final picture from Tom: one of the Tufted duckings at the Vista caught in mid-dive.
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One of the foxes was mooching around in the Dell.
A Willow Emerald damselfly perched on an oak leaf by the bridge.
A Speckled Wood butterfly looked out from a leaf in the Flower Walk.
A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee worked its way over a globe thistle in the Rose Garden.
That's not a juvenile...
ReplyDeleteMaybe. Very yellow bill, though. Tom thought it was a juvenile.
DeleteDefinitely not a juvenile he doesn’t know what he’s talking about
DeleteOK, changed.
DeleteIt's absolutely possible for peregrines to nest, quite literally, in the middle of major construction, if common sense provision is made - see Battersea Power Station and (even more so) the next site upriver. It's hugely dependent on the attitude of the site owners. But if they had seen the pair displaying high in the sky at the end of winter, or their young practising the stoops and dodges they will rely on in later life against each other this month and the last, they would perhaps be willing to bear the inconvenience (which is the main issue - nesting provision need not be as extravagant as at Battersea).
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be too worried about the widowed tiercel finding a new mate, there being no shortage of "floating" unpaired birds. A new female showing aggression to the youngsters might be more of a concern, but they seem strong enough on the wing to be able to get themselves out of trouble, if it happens ... I think.
The chimneys at Battersea were demolished and rebuilt one by one. At least at one time during the work the Peregrines moved across the river to the chimney of Bazalgette's sewage pumping château.
DeleteI'm sure that Stuart Harrington of the London Peregrine Partnership is on top of the problem. I told him about the building works on the hotel.
What is it like walking through the park at night? I have often been hesitate to do so, but also intrigued with its surroundings..
ReplyDeleteSss
Asking for a friend
DeleteKensington Gardens closes at dusk, in practice well after as just one man goes round locking the gates. You can still climb in at various points, of course, and I often have when trying to find Tawny Owls. There are a lot of homeless people there but I've never had any trouble with them. Hyde Park closes at midnight and I often take the short cut from Alexandra Gate (at the top of Exhibition Road) to Marble Arch. Again, I've never had any trouble.
DeleteI heard a Hobby in a plane tree on the avenue you mentioned. This was the first time I had heard one here. I just need to see one now
ReplyDeleteWell done. Now to see one. Not too hard at the moment.
DeleteHi Ralph, I can 100% concur with your information RE. The Battersea power station Pegs.. at some point there was an Elton John concert in the power station.and the concert goers were told to wear headphones so as NOT to disturb the birds, Incedently, the three juveniles were called Giles,Gilbert and Scott after the architect..regards,Stephen....
ReplyDeleteThank you. The concert must have been a comic spectacle, but it was silly place to have one, Pink Floyd's inflatable pig notwithstanding. Please will you keep an eye on the hotel in the Cromwell Road?
DeleteOh, no. Poor thing. I hope he'll get a new mate soon, though. Did she smash herself against something, or was it just old age?
ReplyDeleteTinúviel
Smashed into something, possibly a window on an all-glass building, too common an accident.
DeleteWe made a pilgrimage to the park (mainly Kensington Gardens) yesterday for about 3 hours, mainly because Kathryn had never seen a Lesser Emperor before & kept missing them at other places I'd seen them. I arrived well ahead of her but managed to locate 2, possibly 3 individuals near the bridge, which she later saw well.
ReplyDeleteWe also had one Willow Emerald along the Long Water but none in the Italian Garden. In total we saw 9 Odonata species. I did check the Round Pond which was virtually bereft of Odonata bar a single Common Blue Damselfly & Black-tailed Skimmer. We did see a juvenile Little Grebe on there.
I was impressed with the number of duck on the Long Water & counted 24 Gadwall, 43 Pochard & 3 drake Red-crested Pochard. We also saw a brood of 6 Tufted Duck youngsters which you've featured.Amazingly we didn't see or hear a single Ring-necked Parakeet- though I'm not complaining!
Yes, I saw your report on the London Bird Club Wiki and in particular wondered where the Little Grebe was. It must have been old enough to fly in, as there is nowhere to nest. Hobbies fly around the Round Pond -- maybe there are dragonflies high up chasing the abundant midges?
DeleteThree Little Grebes!
DeleteWhen I was there I frequently looked up at the skies as it looked perfect for raptors but didn't see one in my 3 hours in the park!
DeleteWe only have a few regular raptors. I have seen Hobbies at the Round Pond, and indeed at the moment they have been seen several times not far away, but I've never seen a Sparrowhawk, Peregrine or Kestrel there.
DeleteThis "A Coot ate an apple. It's remarkable how many birds like apples, and they always prefer them to any other fruit." Is interesting - apples unlike cherries, white currants or gooseberries don't get attacked that much by birds. Although I have to say it is pigeons that attack them - not coots which I have never seen far from water.
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to see a Coot in an apple tree. People try to give other fruits to the parakeets, and they are ignored. Same if one is dropped on the path around the lake. But the windfall plums at the Triangle get eaten and I've seen a Mallard having a go at one.
DeleteSadly I can't ever imagine having so many gooseberries that I would want to waste one on a coot. Some people do lose loads of apples to parakeets - so far I have survived although I have dwarfing root stock which might worry them as they have to get closer to the ground.
DeleteI am really sad about the female Peregrine. She was a bird which I would see almost every day and she raised her offspring as I walked past. It really is very sad. I hope to be able to do the same with the younger birds.
ReplyDeleteTheodore
We need to keep a watch on the hotel. I've only seen the young ones recently, both in the air and on the barracks.
Delete