Two large families of Great Tits were together by the Steiner bench, with the hungry young making a tremendous racket.
A parent looked desperate. I gave them lots of pine nuts, which lightened their load for a few minutes.
A Chiffchaff sang overhead in the top of a holly tree. This was tricky to film, as the twig was swaying in the wind.
The Coal Tits ...
... and the Robins at Mount Gate were also collecting pine nuts for their fledglings.
A Grey Wagtail hunted along the edge of the Serpentine, picking up insects for its two young ...
... which were waiting impatiently in the Dell.
A Pied Wagtail at the Round Pond trotted through the puddles on the edge thrown up by the waves, which are a favourite place for them and must contain small aquatic larvae stranded on the edge.
The female Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery looked down from the hornbeam tree.
The usual male Chaffinch kept interrupting my attempts to get a good picture of her.
A Rose-Ringed Parakeet looked nervous when a Wood Pigeon landed on the same twig.
A Moorhen was preening on the edge of the Serpentine.
The Black Swan on the Round Pond hasn't brought his girlfriend with him. He was following a young female Mute Swan around. She was not pleased by his attention and kept her distance.
The Mallard still has six ducklings ...
... and the Mandarin was holding on to her four.
The other female Mandarin here had gone down to the Long Water to join another, and they were trying to pick up some food from people feeding the swan family at the Vista. They couldn't get too close for far of being attacked.
A Common Blue Damselfly rested on an iris leaf in the Italian Garden.
I love the Chiffchaff song so much. The English name of the bird is wonderfully descriptive.
ReplyDeleteDear me, but the Tit parent looks as if he was carrying the entire weight of the world on its shoulders. I can imagine Great Tit fledgelings must be a maddening bunch.
So if I am understanding it correctly, the Chaffinch plops himself in the middle of your path when he sees you're ready to take pictures of the Little Owl? That's either "look at me me me me" or maybe "give me some pine nuts you lens-carrying barbarian!".
Tinúviel
Looking up names for the Chiffchaff in other languages, I see that it's Zilpzalp in German and Tiltaltti in Finish. I'm afraid that the Spanish Mosquitero Común is dreadfully unimaginative.
DeleteThat Chaffinch plonks himself down in front of me whatever I'm doing, inlcluding walking so that I have to do an emergency stop and produce a pine nut before I can continue.