The Egyptian Geese at the Round Pond still have eight goslings, and are guarding them attentively.
The other pair still have five, which were straying all over the place while their careless mother dozed.
The two survivors on the Serpentine were sheltering under their mother, safe for a while.
A Tufted drake's head showed a fine iridescence in the sunlight.
A pair of Gadwalls ate algae from the lake floor, and the female caught midges flying low over the water.
The Coots' nest on a post at Peter Pan gets larger every day, but there still aren't any eggs in it.
It's not at all clear what's going on in the top Grey Herons' nest on the island. It had a sitting bird in it, and there is now always a standing adult, which may (or may not) be guarding chicks still too small to be heard from the shore.
A heron stood in a disused Magpies' nest at the Triangle amid blossom of one of the myrobalan, or cherry plum, trees along the edge. There are also two plum trees bearing edible red and yellow plums, but you seldom see the fruit as people come in early and pick it.
The blossom was full of Honeybees from the hives in the Ranger's Lodge garden.
A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee at the Lido preferred a blackthorn bush.
Other insects included a Common Dronefly, Eristalis tenax, on a leaf in a Rose Garden Flower bed.
It just missed being eaten by one of the Robins ...
... whose mate was in a tree above.
The usual Blue Tits ...
... and Coal Tits arrived to be fed ...
... and a Wren bustled about in the bushes.
Another Wren hopped through the undergrowth at the northwest corner of the bridge ...
... while Long-Tailed Tits hunted in the upper branches.
The Song Thrush at the Henry Moore sculpture got a worm ...
... and there was a Pied Wagtail running about in the grass.
The tendency of the bold male Chaffinch in Kensington Gardens to plonk himself down right in front of your feet is quite alarming. So far I've managed to stop in time. He found me at the southwest corner of the bridge, but can turn up anywhere.
Does he plonk himself down in front of anyone with something edible, or just you? If the latter it's not half so dangerous, as you're always so very careful.
ReplyDeleteYesterday a stork nearly dropped a twig over our head. It was carrying a largish twig for its nest, made the short final, and then promptly dropped the twig before it could alight. Alas. It came all the way loaded only to waste it in the last second.
Tinúviel
I think that Chaffinch only stalks me and no one else. He can spot my ungainly figure lurching along from a considerable distance and promptly shoots over for his daily rations.
DeleteJust be careful not to stand under any storks or herons carrying bits of poisonous fish. You don't want to emulate Odysseus.