A very happy Easter to all readers. The park was full of people, but a bold Pied Wagtail was not put off and skittered around the Italian Garden looking for insects, confident of its ability to speed off like a rocket.
A Blackbird sang in a red-leafed maple tree by the bridge.
A Greenfinch wheezed and twittered farther along the path, but the incredibly noisy police helicopter was hanging around and made it impossible to record.
A Blackcap was leaping about and singing behind the Queen's Temple ...
... and a Chiffchaff was doing the same in the top of a tree.
A Long-Tailed Tit came out of its nest holding a faecal sac. The young birds produce droppings enclosed in a membrane, so these can be taken out to keep the nest clean. They are dumped at a safe distance from the nest to conceal its location.
The Little Owl at the Round Pond was in her customary place in the lime tree.
It looks as if the Carrion Crows in the Little Owls' tree by the Serpentine Gallery have decided to nest. They did this last year and the intrusion kept the owls from breeding.
A crow had won some cake from a picnic by the Serpentinme and was dunking it in the water.
Ahmet Amerikali got a fine picture of a Reed Warbler under the edge of the Italian Garden ...
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... and a Wren near the Henry Moore sculpture.
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The young Grey Herons in the third nest on the Serpentine island have now started climbing about in the tree. You can see all three in this video: one in another nest below, one flapping and climbing out of the top, and the last staying put for now.
A Great Crested Grebe on the Serpentine had caught a ruffe which unfortunately was too large to swallow. It swam away and I didn't see how things ended, but it must have had to give up.
Another mooched around elegantly by the shore. Muchof a grebe's life is spent doing absolutely nothing.
It was quite a chilly day and the Coot chicks in the Italian Garden climbed up into the nest to shelter under their parent's wings.
The Moorhen at the east end of the Serpentine was on its favourite post at the corner of the reed bed.
Three Mute Swans grazed on the top of the grassy bank at the Liudo.
It seems that the latest breeding attempt by the Egyptian Geese at the Henry Moore sculpture has failed yet again. The pair were consoling each other on the grass.
That chiffchaff photo looks like a Willow warbler.
ReplyDeleteIt's got quite dark legs like a Chiffchaff. And there was a Chiffchaff singing, and I didn't hear a Willow Warbler, which is a song I know perfectly well. So not sure about that.
DeleteGrebes are a bit like the cats of the bird world. They spend most of their time dozing elegantly and doing absolutely nothing but looking adorable. The rest of the time they spent being an efficient killing machine, but I digress.
ReplyDeleteWhat a treat, the video of the Pied Wagtail. They are so rare here and I love them so much. I miss them like crazy - they have all gone back to northern Europe and to the UK.
Tinúviel
Grebes do have periods of furious activity when bringing up chicks, of course, and this is quite a long process taking several months. So they are not utterly idle.
DeleteOur Pied Wagtails -- which are darker than mainland European White Wagtails -- don't migrate, and we have them all the year round. Perhaps we get more in summer.
Happy Easter to you too, Ralph. I went a couple of years with no Greenfinches in my garden, but in recent months have daily visits, with a maximum of 7 birds at one time.
ReplyDeleteJust hoping we get some of the forecast rain this afternoon. Rain just keeps disappearing from the forecast.
Greenfinches took some time to bounce back after being hit by the respiratory virus, but they are now all around the Long Water, where a combination of tall trees and a good depth of undergrowth suits their habits.
DeleteThat's good news, Ralph.
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