It was a fine sunny day. A small flock of Redwings was flying around and hunting on the ground on the west side of the Italian Garden.
They were accompanied by two Song Thrushes.
A female Blackbird foraged in the leaf litter across the path from the Buck Hill shelter. This is the patch of recently cleared ground where I've also filmed a Dunnock and a Wren foraging. It must be full of insects and worms.
A male, probably her mate, perched in a tree on the other side of the path.
A Wren was also leaping around.
The usual Robin was just along the path and flew to my hand for some pine nuts.
The Robin at Peter Pan also came out.
A Coal Tit ...
... and a Blue Tit waited in a dogwood bush in the Flower Walk.
The male Chaffinch ...
... and his mate were in a flower bed in the Rose Garden.
There were lots of Jays. This is one of four that were demanding peanuts by the Speke obelisk.
The two Great Black-Backed Gulls visited the park again today and were standing on posts at Peter Pan.
Here is one of them preening and fidgeting.
The Black-Headed Gull with the ring Yellow 2PSN is a regular winter visitor, usually seen on the Serpentine but today near the Round Pond. It has an unadventurous history, hatched on the Pitsea rubbish dump in Kent and never seen far from London.
A Grey Heron took a table at the Dell restaurant, shooed the Feral Pigeons ...
and enjoyed some chips.
Coots chased each other on the Serpentine.
Judging by the belligerence of Coots, spring is in the air much earlier than it ought to.
ReplyDeleteGreat video of the GBB. I never thought I`d see Great Black Back yoga, but here we are. Now seriously, what a curiously thousand-yard stare they have.
Very didactic pictures of the Redwing and the Song Thrush in similar position and attitude!
Tinúviel
I think Coots fight all year round, but I'd have to keep count of incidents to be sure.
DeleteIt's partly the yellow eyes that give Great Black-Backs that menacing look. Lesser Black-Backs and Herring Gulls have the same eyes and look equally mean, but the terrible crunching bill of a GBB in front of those eyes is what makes them truly terrifying.
I should have cropped the picture of the Redwing slightly less to make it look a bit smaller than the Song Thrush.
I'm guessing the Great Black-backs are relatively infrequent visitors to the park? I don't recall seeing any on my very occasional visits there.
ReplyDeleteI've seen a small number at sites I don't often see them recently- a couple at Yeading Meadows, one on Ruislip Lido & a couple of days back one standing on Ealing Hospital.
They're very infrequent in the park. I hadn't seen one for several years before these two arrived. But from what you say it seems possible that they're moving into town like the other gulls.
DeleteWhat is surprising Ralph is that like many gulls the population is in decline (though in London the other big gulls are increasing unlike the national trend). I mainly encounter them on the Thames where I encounter small numbers.
DeleteA curious thing I discovered, and mentioned on this blog a few months ago, is that until the end of the 19th century gulls never came up the Thames any farther than the docks. Now, as they decline around the coast, they are establishing themselves more and more as an urban species.
DeleteYes it's slightly surprising it's such a relatively recent phenomenon.
DeleteGreat to see the redwings. I fear a hard winter - I saw one myself yesterday in south London
ReplyDeleteWe should get more Redwings on the ruins of the Wasteland, though last year's showing was poor with never more than ten.
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