Jenna shot this video on her phone at the boat hire platform yesterday. Two Moorhens were engaged in a furious fight. They are usually fairly peaceful birds, but it's spring and hormones are surging.
Today a Moorhen was resting in a perilous place in the middle of the horse ride at the other side of the road. When it got up you could see that it was limping slightly. Perhpas it was one of the combatants.
Even when sitting on the nest Coots are restless and can't stop rearranging the twigs.
The Mute Swans at the east end of the Lido were making up their nest in the reed bed. Nick the Wildlife Officer has put up a fence to protect them and given them some straw, which may reduce the damage they usually cause to the reeds.
The Canada Goose was back on the swans' nesting island on the Long Water. No doubt when the male swan returned he chased it off at once.
One of the Mandarin drakes caught a midge on the Serpentine.
A Grey Heron at the Triangle stared fixedly into the shrubbery. There must have been a rat on the other side of the railings.
The female Little Owl at the Round Pond was in the same horse chestnut tree. Although it's wonderful to see her, I hope she'll soon disappear because she and her mate have found a new hole.
A Stock Dove wandered past the next tree. They too have lost their home in the fire.
The green and purple iridescence of a Feral Pigeon in the Rose Garden were set off by the background ...
... which was the mauve blossom of a cercis bush where a Blue Tit waited for a pine nut.
A Great Tit perferred white cherry blossom.
The Robin pair in the middle of the Rose Garden were together on a twig.
The local Great Spotted Woodpecker climbed a tree just outside the garden.
A male Chaffinch near the Round Pond was carrying a few strands of nest lining.
A Chiffchaff perched among leaf buds.
A Jackdaw waited on a twig.
A Blackbird in the Flower Walk was singing quietly to himself.
A female Hairy-Footed Flower Bee flew through the wallflowers below. All the bees prefer wallflowers to the other flowers that are around now, and continue to visit them even when they have started to wilt.
I heard a Cetti’s Warbler on the Serpentine island today. Always an interesting bird to hear in Central London
ReplyDeleteThere are two singing males, one on the Serpentine island, one around the Long Water. I heard the LW bird singing in exactly the place where a pair bred a couple of years ago.
DeleteI've said again and again, but it bears repeating that I suspect the small birds know how to maximize their appeal by choosing a flattering background. Appeal leads to good pictures which leads to pine nuts.
ReplyDeleteIncredible video of the fighting Moorhens. They're so agile! One would have thought they'd be more clumsy with those big toes of them.
Tinúviel
At least some of the small birds have a pratical reason for perching in blossom. Itattracts insects, and for some such as Blue Tits, the flower and leaf buds are a source of nutritious nectar and sap.
DeleteMoorhens are very clever with their toes, alternately aligning and spreading them as they run so that they don't catch their foot on the oopposite leg as one passes the other, but they have a broad footprint on marshy ground. They can even run over a mat of algae as long as they don't stop.