The male Song Thrush near the Henry Moore sculpture scolded a Jay which had landed on a branch. His mate must be nesting in a bush nearby.
A Wren ...
... and a Long-Tailed Tit were also jumping about and nattering angrily.
The Jay put up with the harassment for a while but did fly off before the thrush started buzzing it -- not that the thrush could have caused it any harm, but it would have been irritating.
A Coal Tit in the Rose Garden was getting very impatient about being photographed instead of fed at once.
A Blue Tit was also waiting in a Magnolia stellata.
A Carrion Crow strolled along the herbaceous border ...
... where a male Hairy-Footed Flower Bee was taking a short break from browsing on the hyacinths.
The female Peregrine was on the barracks tower by herself. She has a clear white stripe up the side of her face, while the male's stripe is dingy grey.
Pigeon Eater, on the left here, and his mate were preening on the roof of the Dell restaurant.
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A Grey Heron swayed precariously after landing on a chain at the island, holding a bit of pizza crust it had won from a restuarant. Of course, being a heron, it kept its balance.
This is the pair with the three new chicks, which are out of sight in the nest at top left. The blossom now makes it almost impossible to see what's going on, and soon the nest will vanish completely into the leaves.
The Coots on the post at Peter Pan were busy expanding their nest.
Another nest on a chain, under a rowing boat moored at the island. They may get away with nesting here, as there is little demand for rowing boats and most of them stay tied up for months.
The male Mute Swan occupying the nesting island in the Long Water wondered whether it was worth the trouble of getting up and swatting a pair of intrusive Canada Geese. The Coot nesting on the outside edge of the island is not considered troublesome and is never bothered.
These geese are probably the pair that used to nest on the tern raft in the Long Water, and whose goslings had to be rescued every year because they were trapped behind the fence around the raft. The increasingly derelict raft finally disintegrated, and the geese now have nowhere to nest. They know that the foxes on both banks will make it impossible to nest on the shore.
Another male swan was claiming the nest site at the end of the Lido restaurant terrace.
Eh. Those Canadas have guts of steel to try to nest to close to a clearly surly cob.
ReplyDeleteI always find it so funny how Coots, which are living floating devices, jump high in the air (relative to their size) and then dive down. None of the elegance of Grebes and of course little of the swiftness of Little Grebes.
Poor Jay. It's paying for the bad rap Magpies give the entire family.
Tinúviel
Those Canadas are moved to boldness by desperation. The tatty raft was theirs for years, and someone always came to rescue their trapped babies when it was time.
DeleteIt's really difficult for a Coot to submerge. A leap followed by desperate head-down paddling, and as soon as they stop they shoot to the surface backwards.
I don't think a Jay would hesitate to eat a baby thrush if it got the chance.
It would be nice to see some Egrets becoming regular residents of the park, in the coming years - would be interesting to see their daily goings. Seems like the only ones missing, out of the common UK sightings and more or less a perfect habitat for them, much like the Herons.
ReplyDeleteSean
A few have visited, very briefly. For some reason they don't likle the place.
DeleteWho knows what goes on in their little dishevelled heads. In our place where there are herons there will be egrets.
DeleteTinúviel
We've got a lot of herons in not much space. They may simply be crowding out any possible arrivals of egrets.
DeleteIt is the female Canada that was nesting on the raft last year. But the male is different, her original male was found with a punctured neck back in December, she was a widow with her one daughter and then another male ( pictured ) quickly stepped in within a week and became a stepfather too. I saw him trying to get to the island but the swan was blocking his way. I don't see them being able to grab any inch of it with the killer in charge.
ReplyDeleteJenna
Thank you. Today the pair were at Peter Pan, looking rather disconsolate, with both the swans at the nesting island.
Delete