A male Stonechat appeared on Buck Hill ...
... hunting insects in the long grass and scrub.
There was also a pair of Long-Tailed Tits nesting in a gorse bush ...
... and more at the foot of the hill, where they are nesting near the bridge.
The yellow blossom of the cornel cherry tree in the Rose Garden attracted a Robin ...
... and a Blue Tit. (The tree isn't actually a cherry, it's a kind of dogwood, Cornus mas.)
One of the Coal Tits waited in the next tree.
A Rose-Ringed Parakeet ate cherry blossom in the Rose Garden -- or rather it picked a flower, chewed it for a moment to squeeze out a bit of nectar, discarded it, and moved on to the next flower. They do the same with the sweet sap in leaf buds. In this wasteful way a few of these destructive birds can wreck a whole tree.
More usefully, a Honeybee browsed on the nectar. This one is a drone, not collecting pollen, but they still pollinate plants by transferring it as they around from flower to flower.
Ahmet Amerikali got a good picture of a Wren, which I missed as it dashed into a bush and disappeared.
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A Coal Tit at Mount Gate was dwarfed by the big leaves of a Magnolia grandiflora.
One of the Robins came out on the railings.
A pair of Magpies encouraged each other to climb down a branch to bathe in the Long Water.
The female Little Owl at the Round Pond was out on a branch.
On the pond, the Egyptian Geese now have nine goslings. I'm certain there were only eight yesterday.
The Czech Black-Headed Gull was still on the Serpentine, though the other dominant one at the landing stage has already left for his breeding ground.
In the sunshine its head looked far from black. The new scientific name of the species is Chroicocephalus ridibundus, 'the leather-headed one that laughs a lot', which is pedantic but correct as that is a much better description of the colour.
A young Grey Heron in the upper nest was ranging around and flapping, looking old and tatty.
One of the herons from the west nest was down on a basket.
Since the pair were fussing around with something in the bottom of the nest yesterday, it's possible that the other heron is already sitting, out of sight unless it raises its head. But it doesn't do to get your hopes up with this hesitant couple.
You don't get many Stonechats, right? They're so tame and confident birds, they will be doing their routine of jumping from their perch, getting a midge out of the air and return to their perch unfazed by the gawking creatures within a couple of metres of them.
ReplyDeleteTinúviel
No, we don't get many Stonechats. Not a rare bird, but city centres are absolutely not their place. Commoner in wild scrubland in outer London.
DeleteThere are actually 2 families of Egyptian Geese at the Round Pond now...the new family arrived with 9 goslings yesterday morning (the other family were down to 6 goslings at that time)
ReplyDeleteAh, that explains it. Thanks. With two families I'd have expected to find them fighting.
ReplyDeleteThe Stonechat was a good bonus to the gorgeous weather.
ReplyDeleteThere often seems to be a marked passage of Stonechats through the London area around this time of year.
There was one on Hampstead Heath a few days ago, but not a lot generally.
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