The Little Owl at the Round Pond was at the back of her hole, but when she saw me she obligingly came out to the front to pose for her portrait.
The horse chestnut tree where she has been perching all autumn is now almost leafless and full of Jays, Magpies, Jackdaws and Carrion Crows. I don't think she'll go back there this year.
A Magpie perched in the yellow leaves of an Indian horse chestnut near the Serpentine Gallery.
I didn't think I'd seen this Robin at Peter Pan before. but it clearly knew me as it came out to take pine nuts from the ground.
The male Chaffinch in the Rose Garden had the same idea.
A Herring Gull seized and ate a peanut I was trying to give to a pair of Magpies at the Triangle. After I produced another peanut for them, one Magpie led the gull off while the other streaked in and grabbed the peanut.
A gang of Black-Headed Gulls washed together on the Long Water. Like preening, washing is a contagious habit.
Both sides of the boathouse are now almost permanently occupied by Herons looking for fish under the foundations.
Three young Cormorants, still with pale fronts, stood together on the fallen poplar in the Long Water.
Farther up the lake, adults were having a confrontation about who could stand on the posts.
A Great Crested Grebe at the Lido examined a buoy to see if there were any fish lurking under it.
Farther down the lake, another ignored the grim towers of the Winter Wasteland, which is now almost ready to open.
So much less fun than Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights, one of whose attractions is a giant Tawny Owl.
The Common Pochard x Tufted Duck was at the Lido. Like both its parents, it's a very active diver.
The rats in the Flower Walk are a bold bunch and can scare off the squirrels.
I suppose this tree by the Diana playground is a winter flowering cherry and is supposed to go into blossom as it's losing its leaves, but it's a strange sight.
There are roses in the Rose Garden very nearly the whole year round, a remarkable achievement.
And it has a giant Little Owl. Jim
ReplyDeleteNot sure whether that's a Little Owl or not. It's less exactly painted than the Tawny.
DeleteI've stood in front of that triptych for hours. It has to be seen to be believed. There are three other paintings at the El Prado museum that makes me lose any sense of time: Goya's Saturn devouring his children, Brueghel's The Triumph of Death, and Fra Angelico's Annunciation.
ReplyDeleteGulls are smart, but no non-corvid can ever aspire to outsmart magpies working in tandem.
Tinúviel
The panel on the right which I didn't reproduce here, Hell, is much more like the actual Winter Wasteland. I have never seen the original Goya, but even in reproduction it chills the blood.
DeleteI don't think even a mated pair of Carrion Crows would be able to cooperate in the way that Magpies do. Male and female crows alike are total gangsters. Maybe the gentle Jackdaws? I haven't seen this.