Tuesday, 1 July 2025

Angry Wren

A Wren in the Flower Walk was jumping around and loudly scolding a Magpie, somehow managing to do this while holding several insects in its beak (for their identification, please see Jim's comment below). It wanted to take these to its nest, but couldn't while the Magpie was watching.


A Blackbird at Mount Gate was looking for insects in the parched grass. No worms would be available in the hard ground.


Two young Starlings squabbled about leftovers at the Lido restaurant.


A Carrion Crow, bored with its young one's incessant begging, told it firmly to shut up.


A Wood Pigeon cooled down with a dip in the Serpentine.


The female Little Owl looked down from the other chestnut tree at the Serpentine Gallery.


I got a momentary glimpse of an owlet in the nest tree, a flash of frightened jade-green eyes and it was away to hide in the thickest leaves of the neighbouring lime. No time to even lay a finger on the camera.

There was one Peregrine on the tower, but I only got a shot from the far side of the lake before it flew away. Surprisingly it was the female. Even in this distant view you can see the clear white stripe up the side of her face. On the male it's dull grey.


After a record breeding year there are young Grey Herons all round the lake, and it's impossible to tell which nest they're from. These two were on the wire baskets at the west end of the island.


Our old friend Pigeon Eater is not the only gull who wants to eat pigeons. He's just the only one who's any good at catching them. Others try but almost always fail, such as this one at the Round Pond.


The Mallard and her six ducklings circled the pond briskly, barging past any geese or swans at the edge.


The youngest Mandarin had wandered off by itself again.


Someone had left a watermelon rind and a pair of shorts on the landing stage by the Diana fountain. A Mallard drake was not impressed.


The single Mute cygnet on the Serpentine, from a nest at the far east end as far as possible from the murderous dominant male, is growing well. It remains a mystery why only one egg hatched.


The dominant male was busy chasing some Canada Geese under the bridge.


The Black Swan was staying in the shade of the reeds at the east end of the Lido. He looked hot and bothered. His black feathers absorb more heat from the sun than the white feathers of the other swans, and it's no good telling him that in his native habitat of Western Australia he'd have much hotter weather to cope with.


A pair of Great Crested Grebes displayed to each other on the Serpentine. They have been very vague about breeding this year. They usually don't nest till summer because there aren't enough small fish for the young till then, but they really ought to have started by now.


A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee climbed out of a day lily at Peter Pan.


A Small White butterfly rested on a leaf at Mount Gate while a little insect passed over. It was moving slowly and I thought it was a hoverfly, but the picture shows a pair of hefty antennae more characteristic of a tiny bee.