London is full of House Martins at the moment, massing for their migration to Africa.
At least a hundred were hunting midges over the Round Pond.
The wind was quite strong and it had only just stopped raining, so the Little Owl was staying at the back of her hole.
The Little Grebes are still on the pond. They seem to favour this orange buoy, which is the nearest thing to a bit of cover on the open pond.
When there's more than one pair of Egyptian Geese there's an argument. A pair on the edge of the pond and another on top of the owls' tree were shouting at each other.
A Pied Wagtail found a small larva in a puddle on the shore.
Our one and only Grey Wagtail was hunting by the Dell restaurant terrace.
The familiar Robin in the Flower Walk was waiting on the back of a bench each time I passed.
The male Chaffinch in the Rose Garden shrubbery now comes out regularly to pick up thrown pine nuts.
A Coal Tit perched on a twig above.
We've seen this pure white Feral Pigeon in the Rose Garden already. Today it was poking about nearby on the edge of the Serpentine Road.
Pigeon Eater was on his usual territory eyeing a pigeon and hoping it would lose concentration. But it stayed alert and flew away as he crept up to it.
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One of the young Grey Herons flew into the nest and had a display with one that was already there.
A Great Crested Grebe on the Long Water shrugged as she was relentlessly chased by a chick.
The childless pair at the east end of the Serpentine have a life of leisure.
A pair of Gadwalls stood on a kerb in the Italian Garden.
There are still Common Carder Bees on the catmint in the Rose Garden. They were joined by what I think is a Vestal Cuckoo Bee, judging by the faintness of its second stripe.
A large bracket fungus was growing on an old cherry tree on the Dell restaurant terrace. Some idiot had smashed it up beyond my feeble powers of identification. Later: Mario says that it's an old Chicken of the Woods which has faded greatly from its original yellow colour.
Old Chicken-of-the-wood
ReplyDeleteThank you. I had thought it looked like that, but didn't think it would fade to lose so much yellow.
DeleteThey do indeed make an unholy racket. But then again being Egyptian I guess you'd need to make yourself heard above the hippopotamus and the jackals.
ReplyDeleteThe picture of the chick chasing its mother while she's attempting to put her feathers in order is giving me second-hand anxiety!
Tinúviel
I suppose its essential that the indulgent parents should finally get exasperated and kick their offspring out at just the time these can fend for themselves.
Delete