The Hobbies are still here, hunting over Kensington Gardens. It's not clear what they are finding, since the House Martins have gone and there can't be many dragonflies left. I got a picture of an adult -- you can see the red feathers around its feet --
... and Ahmet Amerikali got a closer shot of one of the young ones.
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The Little Owl at the Round Pond was completely hidden when I went to the tree in the morning, but fortunately came out later. No day is complete without a sight of this lovely creature.
The Flower Walk was loud with competing Robins. This is one at the east end, behind the Albert Memorial.
The Grey Wagtail swept along the edge of the Serpentine and could be seen later beside the Lido restaurant terrace. It's always the same young one, evidently hatched in the nest beside the Dell waterfall.
The hens in the allotment are rather a plain selection. The previous ones, of very varied breeds, were killed by a fox last year. Perhaps we'll get some more colourful ones soon.
The three young Grey Herons in the nest in the island gave their parent a very hard time when it arrived to feed them.
Pigeon Eater was away from his usual place, leaving it free for the strange discoloured Lesser Black-Back with dark eyes.
Cormorants occupied the posts left from the defunct tern raft on the Long Water. Part of its remaining frame can be seen but even that is gradually sinking.
One of the Great Crested Grebe chicks on the Serpentine watched its mother dive. It immediately dived to follow her. This is how they learn to fish.
One of the very late Coot nests on the Long Water has hatched out, the one under the Italian Garden. Four brand new chicks can be seen.
This idyllic-looking spot is actually quite dangerous, as the north end of the Long Water has several large pike in residence. Only one chick survived from the previous brood, and the Moorhens in the opposite corner ...
... have only one survivor too.
No wonder that the relatively safe Italian Garden pools are crowded with nesting Coots.
The other active nest, at Peter Pan, hasn't hatched yet.
This nest is ornamented with the usual snack packets and miscellaneous junk, in contrast to the one by the Italian Garden whose occupants have left it quite plain. I did see one of them playing with a crisp packet, but this was discarded.
There is one other young Coot chick, seen here on its nest across the water from Peter Pan.
A Grey Squirrel extracted sweet chestnuts from their spiky case and ate them. It didn't seem to suffer from the spikes, which are quite sharp to a human hand.
A Speckled Wood butterfly rested on a leaf at the Vista. There are still quite a lot of these along the Long Water and in the Flower Walk.
Hi Ralph, you did very well to see
ReplyDeleteANY hobbies in the third week of September, never mind getting a pic !!... Also, good to see a butterfly as well.the moorhens do not seem to be very sensible nesters !!. I do not remember an allotment, where is it? Regards, Stephen.
The allotment is near the Kensington Gardens offices at Magazine Gate, the gate at the north end of the bridge.
DeleteHobbies are very much like Kestrels regarding family. You see the kids accompanying the parents everywhere, learning the technique from them, even when they are making a nuisance of themselves. They're not as standoffish as Peregrines are.
ReplyDeleteTinúviel
Yes, the young Hobbies are still seen flying with their parents. The young Peregrines here have already been thrown out of their father's territory. With migratory Hobbies, it must be helpful if the family travels together.
DeleteIn relation to the Hobbies, I have seen more dragonflies away from water in the past 4 weeks than I ever can remember. According to this, more species have recently increased than declined in the UK. Jim
ReplyDeleteAnd all this after a notably cool summer, though the Grauniad manages to drag in the obligatory references to 'anthropogenic climate change'.
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