A party of House Martins whirled over the Long Water. There were more than we usually get in the park, and it looks as if it was a flock that had assembled to migrate south.
A Grey Wagtail approached along the edge of the lake by the Lido restaurant terrace. It's screened from the tables by a line of planters, so this is quite a private place for it to hunt.
A fallen seed head was popular with a gang of Feral Pigeons. I'm not sure what plant it came from, but think it might be wormwood.
There are very few pure white pigeons in the park, as most of them have some black feathers. This one in the Rose Garden shrubbery has dark eyes, so it is just leucistic and not an albino.
A Robin foraged in dead leaves under a lime tree by the Dell.
Another stared from a twig in the Flower Walk.
A Jay plonked itself down in the long grass to demand a peanut.
It was too windy at the Round Pond for the Little Owl to come out of her hole.
At the island the biggest young Grey Heron was out of the nest on a branch. It has now reached the stage where it can make short flights.
Five Cormorants perched in a row on the posts.
Another came on shore, which is unusual with these completely wild and rather shy birds. I passed within four feet of it and it didn't budge.
One of the Great Crested Grebe chicks on the Serpentine was by itself fishing. I didn't see it catching anything, but when they go after small fish just under the surface they swallow them without coming up.
The two on the Long Water were having a quiet preen with their father.
A traditional picture of a Moorhen in a tailwind having a Marilyn Monroe moment.
A gang of Mute Swans often gathers at the Triangle. Here the lakeside path is quite narrow and they often block it and stop people from passing, which I think they enjoy.
A Pochard rested under the willow on the other side of the bridge.
The catmint flowers in the Rose Garden are wilting but the clump is still thronged with Common Carder bees, which seem to have a particular liking for the plant just as cats do.
It started raining and I hurried home, but at least there was a rainbow to see over Mayfair. The flags are on top of the Dorchester Hotel in Park Lane.
That pure white pigeon reminds me a lot, in both posture and morphology, of the race bred in Seville to populate the famous Glorieta de las palomas:
ReplyDeletehttps://live.staticflickr.com/3256/2702525245_c5283aa42b_b.jpg
That's Tinúviel BTW
ReplyDeleteI wonder whether the white pigeons in Seville breed true, or at least with a good proportion of pure white birds. The rarity of truly white pigeons here suggests that it's a recessive gene and hard to sustain.
DeleteI fear that all breeders get a high proportion of failures that they kill out of hand. With dogs, people pay high prices for 'Labradoodles', crosses of Labradors and Poodles with the desirable characteristics of both breeds. Logic suggests that only a quarter of the puppies have the wanted mixture and three quarters are either like one parent or the other or have the undesired characteristics of both.
Fortunately, I did not get caught in that rain today. I have never seen a Cormorant on the shore in the park. I have always found them to be very shy and difficult to get close to. If the House Martins are leaving, I assume the Hobbies will start moving soon too?
ReplyDeleteTheodore
I was surprised by that Cormorant. Still a few House Martins today, and all the Hobbies.
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