One of Grey Herons in the nest at the east end of the island was preening, and so was its chick, which caused it to put its head over the edge of the nest for a moment. There may well be more than one chick: herons generally have two or three, but they don't all hatch at once and younger ones can appear later.
Another look at the chick.
The heron in the upper nest was standing guard as usual, but there was still nothing to see. We know that there is at least one chick here, and I heard it yesterday, but it won't be visible over the edge of the high nest till it's grown considerably.
A heron fished at the small waterfall in the Dell, seen from upstream where you can get a restricted view through the trees.
A Great Crested Grebe was fishing in the Long Water under the Italian Garden.
I watched it for a while but it didn't catch anything. The Cormorants have eaten just about everything in this area, which they fished intensively for several months. Grebes can always cope, eating small fish that Cormorants don't bother with, but let's hope they don't try to nest till later in the year when the fish population has recovered.
The odd trio of ducks were in the Italian Garden, with a Gadwall drake apparently more attached to the female Mallard than the Mallard drake is.
A young Herring Gull played with the seed of an Indian horse chestnut, which is rounder than a normal British conker and rolls well. Gulls love things that roll, and it played with the seed for several minutes.
A Pied Wagtail ran around the edge of the Round Pond.
There were several Jackdaws in the Diana fountain enclosure, not a place where I've seen them before but a good hunting ground for worms. As the Jackdaw population grows they are spreading into new areas.
As usual the Jays were waiting by the Italian Garden.
A Wood Pigeon perched in a cabbage palm, one of the subtropical species planted in the Dell. Cabbage palms grow quite well in the British climate, and even seed themselves when birds eat the fruit and drop the seeds in random places.
A Great Tit had a background of brown leaves in a young oak behind the Albert Memorial. Oaks and beeches keep their dead leaves over the winter when they are young, but start dropping them when they mature.
A Coal Tit sheltered from the morning drizzle under the big leaf of a Magnolia grandiflora at Mount Gate.
Both the Robins were in a dogwood bush, being reasonably civil to each other.
Aconites have come out among the shrubs.
The Robin at the bridge was in a holly tree, waiting impatiently to be fed.
The Winter Aconites are a delight & look great with Snowdrops. I did buy a pot of the former reduced in price last year only to see it devoured by a large slug the following day! Glad I didn't buy more.
ReplyDeleteThe aconites that appear here every year seem to be durable. Maybe the slugs are finding something tastier. Aconites are toxic to people and were used by Victorian poisoners.
DeleteI was going to ask if the aconite in the picture was the same as the poison. I hope no one gets the wrong idea, as it must be so easy to pick up.
DeleteIt's amazing that a Heron that begins life as a lanky punk gremlin-lookalike should grow up to be as elegant, elongated, and graceful as their parents.
Tinúviel
This is what they look like when they're brand new.
DeleteIf you forget to poison your victim with Aconite now, you get another chance with the even more poisonous Hemlock Water Dropwort in summer, and Autumn Crocus later. All grow in the park.
Winter Aconites, Eranthis species (usually E. hyemalis grown here) are poisonous to humans as are many of the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae, which it belongs, but the plants you are thinking of that are particularly toxic are the herbaceous aconites (same family), Aconitum species, which go under various vernacular names such as Monkshood & Wolfbane. Several species are regularly grown in gardens & flower well into the summer.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the clarification.
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