A grey, chilly and very ordinary day with most of the regular birds on view but no surprises. A Coal Tit posed grandly in an azalea bush behind the Albert Memorial ...
... and a Blue Tit looked out from a branch. Both regular customers from the Flower Walk, they came to take pine nuts from my hand.
The Robin on the north side of the Flower Walk was lurking in an aucuba bush at the back of the flower bed, but came over when it saw me.
The Robin in the Rose Garden shrubbery is not yet on such familiar terms, but comes out readily for pine nuts thrown on the ground ...
... and the female Chaffinch is getting more confident by the day. She crunched up a pine nut enthusiastically
Her mate waited in a bush for his turn.
There was no sign of the Little Owl in her hole, though I'm sure she was in there, and probably her mate who will have returned from ranging around the area to spend the winter with her. A squirrel perched insolently over the hole.
I think she can deal with cheeky squirrels, but am not sure. In Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin the fearsome Mr Brown is a much bigger Tawny Owl who catches Nutkin, a Red Squirrel smaller than today's invasive Greys.
On the lawn nearby the grazing Wigeon threw a bit of dry grass aside.
Pigeon Eater was in his usual place looking at a bunch of feeding pigeons. He went for one of them but didn't get it. Rushing into a crowd seldom works for him, but he must take every chance he can get.
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The Black-Headed Gull at the landing stage was lording it over his territory, with not another gull within a hundred yards.
A Grey Heron fishing from a fallen tree opposite Peter Pan ...
... saw another flying past and chased it away.
A Cormorant washed on its way to perch on the big fallen poplar.
A pair of Moorhens searched for food on the shore of the Lido.
Another Moorhen was amusing itself by climbing on the dead irises in the Italian Garden.
The Egyptian Goose pair in the Rose Garden were in their favourite place on the fountain.
Two Greylag x Canada hybrids cruised by the bridge.
There were five Red-Crested Pochard drakes on the Long Water, among Common Pochards and Tufted Ducks.
I didn't know till today that one could be stalked by lurking Robins. But stalk he did.
ReplyDeleteI should imagine that both the female and the make Little Owl working in tandem would be able to evict any old squirrel. But it's true that Tawnies are way more aggressive.
Tinúviel
While a Little Owl is much lighter and weaker than a squirrel, it does have a bird's faster reflexes than those of any mammal, and long legs tipped with needle-sharp claws that can slash terribly.
DeleteLet’s hope the Little Owl gives that Grey Squirrel a much more tougher lesson than Mr Brown does.
ReplyDeleteThe Black-Headed Gull really does like to show its alpha male dominance with his protected patch. You would think he would get a bit lonely and bored all the time just by himself, or he enjoys the own company and not very sociable.
The great pleasure of raising and preserving one's status, at the cost of everything else, is sadly felt by some humans as well as by gulls.
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