Both the Little Owls at the Serpentine Gallery appeared at different times, the male in his usual place high in the chestnut tree ...
... and the female on the chestnut next to it.
There was no sight or sound of an owlet.
The owls at the Round Pond were out of sight in spite of the warm sunshine. Let's hope this means that the female is nesting and the male is ranging about looking for worms and beetles to give her.
A Pied Wagtail ran along the edge.
A Blackbird carried a worm in the trees north of the Flower Walk -- good to see that there's a nest here.
A Song Thrush preened in a dead tree beside the Long Water. This is certainly one of a pair as I've seen both together in this tree.
Young Great Tits were making a racket in the leaf yard.
Feral Pigeons went crazy over a bit of cake left on a table at the Lido restaurant.
A Carrion Crow landed on one of the peculiar artificial trees with rocks on them which are an exhibit outside the Serpentine Gallery. It must have been puzzled as it touched down, because the trees are hollow bronze castings and clang when struck. They have a steel frame inside and the stones are securely bolted to it, so they're not as perilously poised as they look.
There's a Grey Heron in the nest at the west end of the island, but we know better than to expect any serious attempt at nesting in this place.
A Coot chick, one of six in the latest brood at the Italian Garden, looked out from the irises.
This Coot at the Round Pond has a fishing line tangled round its foot and is trailing an artificial minnow. I tried luring it to the edge with food but it stayed at a wary distance. It will not be easy to help. Luckily it didn't seem to be distressed and was swimming about normally.
On Monday we had a video of a Greylag on the pond chewing a plastic buoy. It was doing the same today. Heaven knows what was going through its head.
The Mallard and her six ducklings, guarded by the drake, came ashore on the gravel strip. The Coot nesting on the gravel was not amused.
The Mandarin ducklings were wandering all over the place and there was no chance of a group shot.
An Emperor dragonfly in the Italian Garden had a torn wing but seemed to be flying perfectly well.
The sisyrhynchium flowers in the Rose Garden are a favourite with Buff-Tailed Bumblebees.
Definitely a Pike/Perch lure attached to the Coots foot. Someone got snagged up!
ReplyDeleteSean
Must have been picked up somewhere else. No one fishes on the Round Pond. It will be extremely hard to catch.
DeleteThe current crop of Mandarin ducklings is so self-willed as to verge on the suicidal.
ReplyDeleteDear me, but that's a feeding frenzy. I never suspected pigeons to be so fond of sugary stuff.
I miss birdsong so much. You have at least a fortnight of birdsong on us, but it's drying up even there.
Tinúviel
I've never had an opportunity before this to observe Mandarin mothers in action, or inaction. They have very feeble voices and can't call their ducklings to them. But in any case the ducklings -- or at any rate these ducklings -- are unusually wayward. It's amazing that three still survive out of the original twelve.
DeleteStarlings, as well as pigeons, fall frantically on cake. It seems to have a universal lure.
Our songbirds are now almost finished.Today I heard a Wren and a Song Thrush, both of which sing in the off season, but nothing else, not even a Robin.