On a chilly day sunshine brought both Little Owls at the Round Pond into the same horse chestnut tree, with the female low down ...
... and her mate near the top.
I was followed up the hill to the pond by the pair of Chaffinches. This is the female.
The male Chaffinch in the Rose Garden was in the Cootamundra Wattle ...
... and flew across the path to the Wedge-Leaf Wattle ...
... where he was joined by a Robin, who flew down to my hand and collected six pine nuts.
One of the Blue Tits perched on a teasel.
A pair of Long-Tailed Tits worked through the trees at the northwest corner of the bridge.
Two Carrion Crows were brawling on the Vista.
A Grey Heron, a Cormorant and a Great Crested Grebe were all fishing under the Italian Garden fountains in their own style.
The heron stood waiting for a fish to appear in the gaps between the reeds, and a Cormorant dived about hunting for one. The heron didn't seem to be bothered by the disturbance, which was probably driving fish towards it ...
... and in fact it was the first to score, catching two small carp with a single lunge.
The three heron chicks in the upper nest on the island could see both their parents in adjacent trees, and were jumping about and agitating to be fed.
The pair from the west end of the island were together on the nest. On past form they will probably hang around here for months before they start nesting.
The pair of Egyptian Geese by the Henry Moore statue have definitely failed in their nesting attempt. They were wandering around Buck Hill, quiet and looking slightly depressed. They will try again in a while.
The six young Mute Swans seem to have finally been thrown out by their parents, and were on the Serpentine. One of them was being harassed by an adult male.
A Moorhen had boldly landed on a table at the Lido restaurant to scavenge leftovers. I haven't seen one on a table before.
The daffodils beside the Serpentine Road which were bleached by being covered with a ramp have now recovered and are flowering, several weeks later than the others.
I love it. You can't keep a good daffodil down.
ReplyDeleteLook like it's the season for Moorhens doing all sorts of weird things, then.
It's so sad to see then depressed after losing all their goslings. Whoever said birds feel no emotion ought to have their head examined.
Pretty, pretty owlies!
Tinúviel
Moorhens are weirder than we know. You just have to keep watching them, and an alternative universe seeps into view.
DeleteI'm sure those Egyptians will cheer up and start shouting at their rivals again. But it's really a relief when they don't succeed, as this pair are terrible parents and I think they have only fledged any young once in their lives -- and they are at least ten years old.
After seeing two owls you feel that Fate cannot touch you.