The forsythia bush at Mount Gate has started blossoming, months before it was expected to.
It was visited by a Blue Tit ...
... and a Coal Tit.
A Long-Tailed Tit near the Henry Moore sculpture found a small larva on a twig.
A Robin perched on a bramble ...
... and a Wren was bustling about lower down.
A female Chaffinch came out of a tree to catch pine nuts thrown in the air.
A Jay waited in a laurel in the Flower Walk.
In the ivy hedge at the back of the Lido a Wood Pigeon edged carefully down a stem to reach the berries.
A young Grey Heron stood in the dead willow by the Italian Garden.
The nest at the east end of the Serpentine island had a pair in it, but they aren't yet showing any signs of wanting to breed and we still only have one pair who have gone ahead.
A young Black-Headed Gull at the Lido hauled up a strand of algae and a few leaves from the lake and amused itself by throwing them around.
Gulls don't have prehensile feet and can't hold something down to peck pieces out of it, so small items have to be swallowed whole. The gull was chased away before it had finished, so I don't know whether it managed.
The Great Crested Grebes are already emerging from their plain winter plumage.
A young Cormorant took a break from fishing on the platform for charging the electric boats.
An Egyptian Goose had a harmonious background of floating leaves.
The Wigeon was on the Round Pond, after being chased off the grass by a loose dog. She returned as soon as the coast was clear and started grazing agin.
Two squirrels descended the Lucombe Oak in the Flower Walk. This is a hybrid of a Cork Oak and a Turkey Oak. It bears fertile acorns and the resulting trees are very varied. This one has cork bark but is much larger than a Cork Oak.
Plants are getting crazy ideas this winter everywhere. I wonder what they're telling one another through that famous deep web of fungi that interconnects trees.
ReplyDeleteAlas, that was a close call, but that Pigeon was very careful.
Tinúviel
Well, we all know that the climate panic is unfounded, and that is not the cause of early blossom -- which I've often seen in previous years. But there is a real reason for such things, I think: London's 'heat island'. As the city expands relentlessly and more and more people put in air conditioners (utterly needless in Britain) the centre is already 2°C warmer than the surrounding countryside, and the difference is growing. That's enough to tip any plant into premature action.
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