The familiar Kensington Gardens Chaffinch intercepted me on the way up the hill to the Round Pond.
He had brought not only his mate ...
... but also another male which I hadn't seen before. He is clearly young, as his feet are unaffected by the virus which all Chaffinches, especially males, get after a couple of years. It seems likely that he's the son of the usual pair.
Both the Chaffinches in the Rose Garden shrubbery came out together.
They were accompanied by the usual pair of Great Tits -- this is the female ---
... a Coal Tit ...
... a Blue Tit which I didn't get a good picture of ...
... and the male Blackbird, which is slowly becoming more confident and can occasionally be fed on the ground. His mate was also there but didn't come into clear sight.
The Robin by the Henry Moore sculpture was on a log behind the railings. There was just time for one quick shot before if flew up on to the railings and came to my hand for several pine nuts.
A dead and rather rotten fish on the edge of the Serpentine attracted a small crowd of hungry Carrion Crows.
Our one and only Grey Wagtail is only seen occasionally, but today it was hunting along the south shore.
A Pied Wagtail was in the same place a couple of minutes later.
The Grey Heron nests on the island were active. The upper part of the double-decker nest, where I saw a bird sitting a few days ago, was apparently unoccupied, but then a heron suddenly stood up in it and started preening. I'm far from sure but I really think there are eggs in this nest.
The highest nest, just to the east, was the scene of a dispute.
The upper nest at the east end of the island usually has one heron in it, but I haven't seen any sign of a pair here recently.
A heron was using the Coot nest at the bridge as a fishing platform. The evicted occupant was hanging around crossly in the background, and a Great Crested Grebe was fishing.
Greylag Geese panicked by a loose dog flew over the Serpentine.
The only Mute cygnet to survive on the Serpentine has had a hard life and is now quite tough. It was swaggering around near the Triangle bullying some adults.
The gardeners in the Rose Garden can keep roses going almost all the year round. A bush had a good display of yellow roses.
The single Serpentine cygnet looks like he is taking after his dad, who is the top banana there; I saw his dad defeat the Long Water cob in a long drawn out fight (the only swan I've seen manage that since we lost the second to last Long Water cob), and since then the Long Water family don't get very far onto the Serpentine before they're driven back. Last year it looked like the Long Water cob was aiming to clear out the Serpentine to add to his territory, so thankfully found one to keep him in check.
ReplyDeleteIs dad 4FYG? The one nesting on the island.
DeleteDad is 4DTP, Mum is 4FUL...she nested by the Lido Cafe
DeleteAh, thank you. I watched them nesting, the first ever to succeed on that difficult site.
DeleteAgain, most probably have asked this before, so sorry in advance. Why do Chaffinches get the virus in their feet and seem to be inevitable? Is it something that is inherited through the genes or their diet..you hardly see it with any other small birds but very common in the Chaffinch. When you look at their habitat and behaviour, they are not much different from the others. So it seems to me there is something malfunctioning with the species…
ReplyDeleteThe virus lingers on twigs where infected birds have perched. Male Chaffinches are particularly mobile and perch on a lot of twigs. And yes, you do see the virus in other small birds, though not nearly as often.
DeleteI disagree, if I may: that picture of the Blue Tit is fantastic. It's not often that we get to see it from above and perceive all the beautiful colours all over their little head.
ReplyDeleteYoung swan looks promisingly ferocious, indeed.
Tinúviel
I wonder about the origin of that blue colour, and indeed of blue in all birds. As far as I know there is no blue pigment in animals, so it ought to be an interference colour produced by tiny regularly spaced structures in feathers. But those colours are iridescent, varying with the angle they are seen from, and this seems not to be the case in Blue Tits.
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