The active young Grey Heron on the island was having a good try at fishing. It caught a stick, but after that it did get a very small fish. Meanwhile its idle nestmate was still just hanging around in the nest expecting to get fed. It's in for a rude shock soon, and with no practice at all in fishing it's likely to starve.
The ever hungry Great Crested Grebe chicks at the island are getting quite noisy.
A parent gave one of them a snail -- good food, and the calcium in the shell helps to build young bones.
Every year a pair of Moorhens builds a nest inside a disused drain on the edge of the reed bed near the bridge. A young one was enjoying climbing in the reeds.
The Tufted Duck crossed the Vista with all six ducklings in a row.
They came over to the shore and started diving furiously, but I was lucky enough to capture all of them coming up to the surface together for a moment.
On the edge of the Serpentine the Black Swan was dozing on one leg. He opened a sleepy eye for a moment.
A Greylag Goose ate an apple, managing quite well to bite chunks out of it.
The young Peregrines were together on the barracks tower.
The female Little Owl at the Round Pond came out in the late afternoon and perched in a sheltered spot in a horse chestnut tree to avoid being buffeted by the wind.
A male Great Spotted Woodpecker at the leaf yard was probably the one I saw yesterday, though in a different tree.
A Coal Tit appeared in the bushes near the Henry Moore sculpture, where there are often Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs but I've never seen a Coal Tit here before.
There were three Robins not far apart in the Flower Walk: this one, the very confident one that comes to my hand, and a young one. It's probably a pair and their offspring, though of course the pair has split up now as Robins do outside the nesting season.
Every time I pass the southeast pool in the Italian Garden there seem to be more carp in it.
A pair of Willow Emerald Damselflies mated by the reed bed at the bridge.
There were also two Jersey Tiger Moths in an oak ...
... and a Batman Hoverfly on a bramble flower.
At the other end of the bridge a Hornet Hoverfly persistently landed on the underside of several leaves. Conehead 54 suggests that it was after honeydew, the sugary secretions of aphids.
Could it be that the lazy Heron may be underfed and thus without energy to stand up or move around? It's the only explanation I can think of.If the worse comes to the worst, could it be taken to a sanctuary?
ReplyDeleteTinúviel
No way of getting it when it's up a tree. I think heron parents are fair when feeding two chicks anyway.
DeleteDid you ever find the Black Swan's Mute ex-girlfriend? Is she likely to have left the park with a mate in search of a territory? Jim
ReplyDeleteI was told by a reliable observer that she was taken over by a male Mute Swan.
DeleteA good selection of insects Ralph. I suspect the attraction to the hoverflies of the under leaves is probably honeydew.
ReplyDeleteThanks, that makes very good sense.
DeleteGreat to spend a few hours with yourself and a good read
ReplyDeleteThank you. Great to see you too, and thanks for the Italian Garden picture.
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