Two young Grey Wagtails have hatched by the little stream in the Dell. Their parents were hunting midges along the edge of the Serpentine and flying in to feed them almost every minute.
The Blue Tits in the Rose Garden have more than two to feed, as you can hear a lot of faint twittering from their nest in the lamp post.
They were constantly shuttling down to a rose bush to collect pine nuts for them.
A Carrion Crow was bathing in ants on the grass below, but the tits' iron nest is safe from predators.
Not so this Wren with a nest in the bushes at the Triangle, which was nattering furiously at a pair of Magpies.
The Long-Tailed Tit family at the northwest corner of the bridge seldom move far from their nest site, as this shady little area is chock full of midges.
The Robins at Mount Gate are looking worn by feeding their chicks. At least one young one was hopping around in the bushes, but wouldn't come out to be photographed. It will.
This Robin at Peter Pan used to come for pine nuts in the cold weather, but now has enough insects and is standoffish. I don't think there was a nest here, or it would have been as eager as the ones at Mount Gate.
There was too much wind on the Round Pond for the Little Owls to come out. A pair of Blackbirds were foraging in the grass under their tree.
A Song Thrush sang briefly at the Vista. The spring birdsong is winding down now.
The Mute Swan family on the Long Water had discovered a particularly delicious patch of algae on the Long Water, and crowded together to feed. The mother brought up choice bits for the cygnets.
The wind was raising little choppy waves on the Round Pond, bouncing the six Mallard ducklings up and down.
But the female Mandarin was alone, and sadly it looks as if the Herring Gulls have had her ducklings. They were too independent, straying far over the water, and an easy target.
There was a pair of Mandarins at the Lido, but there would be no chance of breeding successfully here. In all the time I've been watching the lake, Mandarins have only succeeded once, when they managed to raise two young at Peter Pan.
Buff-Tailed Bumblebees browsed on catmint ...
... cranesbill ...
... and the little rose-like flowers on the brambles.
Great footage of the Wagtails, and a lovely image of the Song Thrush. Could the theory be that Mandarins success rate is low because the male abandons the female once ‘he’s done his bit’
ReplyDeleteSean
Possibly7, but it would need a massive survey of different species in different settings to be sure. The attentive Mallard drake on the Round Pond is unusual, I'd say.
DeleteIt's almost comical how much more pronounced their tail-wagging is, compared to adults. Poor things, they look harried. Imagine bringing up children on a midget diet. They'd need a metric ton daily.
ReplyDeleteThe mandarin female looks desolate. I bet she did what she could.
I wonder what catmint honey would taste like. Too bad honeybees don't seem fond of the plant.
Tinúviel
Grey Wagtails wag their tails more than Pied Wagtais anyway, but the young here seem absolutely frantic. They are perfectly camouflaged on the rocks and from a distance all you can see is movement.
DeleteHoneybees are very fond of allium flowers, of which there are hundreds in the Rose Garden. I wonder whether the honey from the hives in the Ranger's Lodge garden tastes of onions. It is not sold, though Regent's Park honey is.
As long as they don''t make it out of rhododendron flowers!
DeleteTinúviel
It's lucky that the soil in the park is quite alkaline and therefore unsuitable for growing rhododendrons. I don't think there are any in the park at all. Incidentally, 'mad honey' is an article of commerce with drug users who don't mind being as sick as a dog for the sake of their hallucinations, and is correspondingly expensive. I don't think it's illegal, as the law hasn't caught up with it, but I can't find any for sale and you probably need to go on to the dark web to get it.
ReplyDelete