Great Tit fledglings were making a noise at the southwest corner of the bridge. Here is one of the young ones being fed.
I also heard a family of Blue Tits on the other side of the Long Water, but didn't get a picture. The chicks in the lamp post in the Rose Garden are still in the nest. A parent caught a spider for them, but that didn't stop it from following me all round the garden demanding one pine nut after another.
The young Long-Tailed Tits at the northwest corner of the bridge were chasing their parents through the trees.
More of Julia's excellent coverage of the family by the Albert Memorial. We've already seen the family here, but this video is too good to waste. One of the fledglings got fed.
The male Greenfinch by the Rudolf Steiner bench was singing in the top of a hawthorn.
A Pied Wagtail sang on a post at the Vista, which it was using as a hunting station.
There was a glimpse of the female Little Owl in a hornbeam by the Serpentine Gallery. She is also still using the sweet chestnut tree, so there's hope that the pair will manage to nest in their usual hole.
The pair at the Round Pond were together in their lime, though not well placed for a picture.
Two of the young Grey Herons in the fourth nest could be seen, now almost adult size.
Pigeon Eater cruised past the Dell restaurant looking mean, moody and magnificent.
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Under the balcony, a Coot was keeping the Black Swan away from its nest. Jon Ferguson saw him earlier back with his old girlfriend 4FUE. But it was 4FUE who laid an egg on the path east of the Lido before the Black Swan returned from Barnes. Jon remarked, 'This business about them mating for life is definitely being brought into question this year.'
The Coot with a nest at the east end of the Lido swimming area had managed to keep the Grey Heron from occupying it again.
The nest on the post at Peter Pan had three chicks in it.
The Mandarin at the Round Pond still had ten ducklings.
Drakes play no part in the rearing of the ducklings. There was one, possibly their father, at the Vista, beginning to go into eclipse and looking sadly tatty.
In the Rose Garden a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee could just manage to get into a pink rose.
The Stachys byzantina is beginning to flower, one of their favourite plants.
A Common Carder bee climbed into a hyssop flower.
Such are the times we are living, even swans' morals are compromised.
ReplyDeleteJust as you are the Little Owl whisperer, Julia is also the Long Tailed Tit whisperer. What a series of amazing videos.
Tinúviel
I am told, though I don't know whether it's true, that Black Swans have looser morals than Mute ones. Anyway he had deserted the female 4FUE by leaving, so it was perfectly normal for her to seek a new mate, 4FYY. I don't know where 4FYY is now.
DeleteI'm glad people are happy with having three videos about the Long-Tailed Tits. Mind you, deplorably few readers of this blog , fewer than a tenth of them, seem to bother to watch the videos, which I regret as I take a lot of trouble with them.
I'm so sorry. It pains me so much that you should think yourself unappreciated, considering all the love and effort you put into this blog. Some people have the attention span of a gnat nowadays and even 20 seconds of video is too much for some. I wish it weren't so.
DeleteTinúviel
Yes. I usually keep videos down to half a minute but even that's too much for the post-literate generation.
DeleteBlack Swan has been rejected and messed about too many times by Mutes. He is letting faith take over and awaiting his one true love to arrive. He deserves it.
ReplyDeleteSean
All the silly bird has to do is go to St James's Park where there is a lone female Black Swan who would love to see him.
DeleteI wonder how far they range once established or semi-established in the park. Does anyone know where it came from?
DeleteNo one knows where this swan is from. It behavef like a wild bird when it arrived but soon learned how to exploit humans.
DeleteThe Black Swan was with 4GIQ for a little while after 4FUE and it was looking promising, but another mute swan took a shine to her and chased him off (literally, left the park) 4GIQ is now nesting - cygnets probably due very soon.
ReplyDeleteI think that's 4GIQ at the Lido restaurant. One cygnet when I went past this afternoon, 7 eggs to go.
Delete