The Little Owls at the Round Pond were perched side by side again, but today deep inside their lime tree and hard to see.
A Blackcap sang in the red-leafed cherry tree at the northwest corner of the bridge.
Ahmet Amerikali took a good picture of the male Reed Warbler in the reed bed east of the Lido, and reports that he now has a mate.
%202025%201a.jpg)
I got a video of the same bird singing very quietly. They are the only pair in the small patch of reeds, so he has no need to sing loudly, unlike the rivals in the larger Diana fountain reed bed.
The Blue Tits in the Rose Garden are unstoppably demanding, much more so than the usually dominant Great Tits. This is one of a pair based in trees at the north side of the garden, where they may be nesting.
There are at least two Robin nests in the Rose Garden, and Ahmet photographed one of them carrying insects ...
%202025%201a.jpg)
... and a Long-Tailed Tit also feeding young. These could be heard calling in the nest.
%202025%201a.jpg)
I found another carrying a couple of caterpillars under the bridge parapet.
A Starling perched on an umbrella at the Lido restaurant.
The Pied Wagtail was back on the posts at Peter Pan.
A team from the BTO were making a documentary about the Rose-Ringed Parakeets. I showed them the place by the Long Water where people feed them and they got some good footage of these pretty but pestilential creatures. A pair were sharing an apple on the railings -- they must have been mates because otherwise they'd have been fighting.
A Grey Heron was fishing from a fallen Lombardy poplar at the Vista.
The male Mute Swan at the island was guarding the nest, which is hidden in the bushes. The pair at the boathouse shuffled twigs around restlessly. The female at the Lido restuarant terrace turned over her seven eggs to keep them evenly warmed.
An Egyptian Goose preened its big complicated wings and flapped to settle the feathers.
There were three Mandarin drakes at the island, uneasy rivals and occasionally chasing each other away. Only one has a mate, who is nesting in a tree in Kensington Gardens.
A pair of Pochards dived at the Lido jetty.
A patch of comfrey in the Dell attracted a female Hairy-Footed Flower Bee ...
... and a male.
I saw a male Mandarin at the Round Pond this afternoon
ReplyDeleteI had suspected that there were three, but that makes four.
DeleteDo you think that parakeets have had any negative effects on native wildlife in Hyde Park?
ReplyDeleteYes. They displace small songbirds, especially hole-nesting ones, and damage trees.
DeleteWhy are they filming a documentary on parakeets? I hope it won't encourage more people feeding them.
ReplyDeleteIf we think about it, Robins a real killing machines. Insect-killing machines, to be sure, but pretty much genociders in miniature.
Tinúviel
The BTO people did seem feebly equivocal about the parakeets. They also thought that their spread was aided by 'climate change'. But I suppose if you question the doctrine of the Green Church you lose your job.
DeleteJust about every creature in the park is eating or being eaten by other creatures, in most cases both.