It was a very ordinary day, and really the only news is that the first daffodil has come out beside the Serpentine Road.
The male Chaffinch from the Rose Garden was here calling to his mate, who answered him from a place out of sight in the next tree.
Then I was followed all round the Rose Garden by him ...
... several Blue Tits ...
... the pair of Coal Tits ...
... and a dozen Great Tits. There were also heavy demands in the Flower Walk and at Mount Gate, where Blue Tits perched in the dogwood bush...
... and the Robin pair were hopping around on the ground below.
The Robin near the Buck Hill shelter also wanted a share. I am getting through serious quantities of pine nuts, but it would be a shame to fob them off with something cheaper.
There were Jays all the way round the Long Water ...
... and Carrion Crows on the marble fountain in the Italian Garden ...
... and the giant flower pots at the Lido restaurant. Fortunately these can be satisfied with peanuts.
The Grey Heron in the upper nest was attending to the chicks. I still haven't seen any here, and only the occasional clattering shows that anything is going on.
The heron in the nest at the east end of the island is still sitting.
Looking back at my pictures, I see that the first photograph of a bird sitting in this nest was taken on 22 December, 29 days ago. The normal gestation time for a Grey Heron is 25 or 26 days, but they start sitting as soon as the first egg is laid so that hatching is spread out over several days. However, something must already be happening here unless things have gone seriously wrong. Unlike the other nest this one is placed quite low, so any chicks should be visible fairly soon.
A Mute Swan took off from the east end of the Serpentine.
The trio of the Canada Goose, hybrid mate and the other hybrid were together at the Triangle.
When one bird starts preening others copy it, even those of a different species. Here are Canada and Egyptian Geese and Tufted Ducks at work together on the edge of the Serpentine.
The male Egyptian at the Henry Moore sculpture was waiting patiently in the grass. His mate comes out of her nest hole at sunset for a quick drink and feed, and he accompanies her down to the water.
Another obscure sticker that takes some research. Again, it comes from disgruntled football fans, in this case from Clermont-Ferrand in France, where their team has just been relegated from Ligue 1 to Ligue 2 after coming 18th out of the 18 teams in Ligue 1. Clermont-Ferrand is one of the oldest cities in France, founded in the 1st century BC and named Augustonemetum after the emperor Augustus. It's not clear, though, why the sticker shows it burning down.
In Spain that sort of burning would be metaphorical? Sort of, "burn baby burn", rather than portraying your city as burning (perhaps similar to English "so and so is on fire today"). I'm assuming it may be like that in France.
ReplyDeleteI shudder for your finances. Pine nuts, even in small quantities, are supremely expensive here. Birds just don't know how good they have it.
Tinúviel
In English. if your football team did well, you might say that they were 'on fire'. But it's a step from that to showing flames over the landmarks of Clermont-Ferrand. I suspect that this image just shows lack of thought.
DeleteNot sure if I have tipped you off before, but the cheapest place to buy pine nuts is ALDI. You get 60g for £1.59, so if you buy two packets, you are around £1.32 and 20 grams better off than if you get them at Tesco. It means a trip to Kilburn, but even that is survive able on a good day. ;)
ReplyDeleteThank you. While it's understandable that there are no Aldi, Lidl or Asda stores in central London where ground rents are high, it's tiresome. I was looking at getting them on Amazon, where the cheapest deal is 1kg at just under £23 including delivery. That's slightly cheaper, but rather a drastic step.
DeletePossibly digressing here but it's an Aldi Local in Kilburn and doesn't have the full range of groceries on their website, for anyone planning a visit. Jim
DeletePossibly digressing, but more relevant than the Latin name of Clermont-Ferrand.
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