We hadn't heard anything from the Hobbies for four days and I thought they'd already left on their migration to Africa. But today two were calling to each other behind the Queen's Temple, and I got a picture of one of them at the top of a big poplar.
The widowed male Peregrine was back on the barracks tower.
Morning rain kept the female Little Owl at the Round Pond in her hole, and she still hadn't come out when I went back later in the hope of a better shot.
A Great Spotted Woodpecker called from the broken top of one of the ancient sweet chestnut trees in Kensington Gardens, planted around 1690 and still alive. You can see that the bird is female, as she doesn't have a red patch on the back of her neck.
This Jackdaw with one foot used to live near the Vista, but has now moved into Hyde Park and was on the sandy horse ride at the Triangle. It saw me and limped over for a peanut.
Starlings gathered on a table on the Lido restaurant terrace to pick up scraps. The table was occupied by humans, but they were kindly disposed towards the Starlings and didn't shoo them away.
There were at least six Robins on the stretch of the Flower Walk between Queen's Gate and the Albert Memorial, some singing ...
... and others just lurking in the bushes.
A Wren was bustling around in an aucuba bush and you could get an occasional glimpse of it.
A young Black-Headed Gull on the edge of the Serpentine looked smart in its juvenile plumage.
The Grey Heron chicks in the nest on the island are growing at a tremendous rate on their high-protein diet of regurgitated fish.
Two of the Great Crested Grebe chicks were not giving their mother a moment's rest. The blue reflection comes from a plastic pedalo.
A grebe on the Long Water brought a fish to one of the three chicks.
Earlier this year Moorhens nested in a bush at the south edge of the Vista, but the nest was predated. They have tried again and this time have a small chick, apparently just one, which is very hard to see inside the bush.
One of the four pale Greylag Geese that flew into the park to moult seems to have decided to stay. This is the one with the mate, which may mean that the mate is a resident.
Wasps were flying in and out of their nest in a hole under the ivy hedge at the back of the Lido. I wonder how these small insects manage to dig such a large hole.
A yellow flag iris in the Italian Garden has produced some seed pods. Apparently if you want to harvest and grow these seeds you should tie up each pod in a gauze bag to stop them from falling out prematurely, and wait till the pod dries out before removing it.
It's a shame that not all of the clientele of the Lido cafe are so tolerant of starlings: guess they don't realise how privileged they are to be so close to such engaging birds. :(
ReplyDeleteYes indeed, and so beautiful too. When I put up a video of a Starling shining in the sun, one of the comments on YouTube was 'It's full of stars!' which I think is a quotation from some sci-fi film but is absolutely apt here.
DeleteWell indeed :) have certainly heard them being referred to as 'pearly kings and queens' before now - I think the little heart shapes all over their breasts are just beautiful.
DeleteVery apt quotation! It's from 2001 a Space Odyssey: "My God, it's full of stars!" (the main character looking inside the monolith if I recall correctly).
DeleteKids, let your mother rest a bit, for God's sake!
Tinúviel
Thank you. I should have remembered.
DeleteRalph according to this wasps use existing structures they don't dig them https://www.naturespot.org.uk/species/german-wasp I think the same is true for bumblebees. See this for more https://www.mimimatthews.com/2016/11/10/a-scientific-justification-for-spinsters-old-maids-and-cats-in-the-victorian-era/
ReplyDeleteThanks. But I wonder what did dig this hole. I have looked at several underground nest holes and they seem too small for rabbits and too big for mice. Rats, maybe.
DeleteSadly I don't know - but maybe rats - I am not really a rodent expect.
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