Monday, 21 October 2024

The climbing fox

The Little Owl at the Round Pond was ready for her close-up.


A Robin near the Henry Moore sculpture ticked irritably at something.


This one in the Rose Garden is now coming out quite confidently to pick up thrown pine nuts.


Two Starlings preened at the Lido restaurant while waiting to raid a table.


A young Herring Gull struggled to peck at a bread roll so stale and hard that even its mighty beak could make little impression on it. It gave up and flew away.


The Czech Black-Headed Gull was away from its usual post at Fisherman's Keep and its place had been taken by another, also wearing one of Bill Haines's rings.


Two of the young Grey Herons explored the island.


An adult was reflected in the stream in the Dell.


When you zoom out you can see why people think the herons are plastic garden ornaments.


The Dell is a very carefully planned completely artificial landscape. The hill at the back is the downstream side of the big earth dam that holds the Serpentine in its flooded river valley. The little stream is quite a long way east of the original course of the Westbourne river. The top level of the main waterfall which looks as if it was draining the lake is actually higher than the lake and is worked by recirculating the water from the bottom of the stream through an electric pump, which also keeps the water in the stream moving faster so it doesn't get stagnant. The real outflow of the lake is at the second level of the waterfall. The natural-looking rocks are chunks brought in and artfully arranged. So it's all fake, but a very handsome fake.

A Great Crested Grebe chick on the Long Water accompanied its father up to the edge of the Italian Garden. It's now fully grown but still dependent.


It was being fed when a Black-Headed Gull swooped down and tried to grab the fish.


The teenagers on the Serpentine are now quite able to fish for themselves.


A Coot had a brisk wash and flap.


A Shoveller drake fed in the blue reflection of a pedalo.


Andrea the Dell gardener pointed out a remarkable thing. One of the foxes has taken to resting on a branch of a weeping willow a good 10 feet above the ground. It gets there by walking up the drooping branch from the far end. The trailing leaves make it impossible to get a clear view of it but this shot at least shows it peacefully dozing.


Buff-Tailed Bumblebees are still visiting the arbutus in the Rose Garden shrubbery.


Peter Pan blew his curious instrument, a sort of aulos, above the debris of yesterday's wake for Liam Payne.

4 comments:

  1. I don’t understand why Hyde Park and why the Peter Pan statue…

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nobody does.
    I wish I could shake that gull and tell it to find its own darn fish!
    Tinúviel

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In the words of the song, gulls just gotta have fun.

      Delete
  3. That Red Fox looks so peaceful and clam. Wish I had an escaped tree to rest on like that!

    ReplyDelete