A male Blackbird by the Round Pond was collecting insects for his nestlings.
A young one at Mount Gate was already independent and digging in the leaf litter under a tree. It found a small larva.
The local Robins were waiting on the railings.
The young Pied Wagtail beside the Serpentine was being fed by its father.
The dominant Black-Headed Gull had just returned from patrolling his territory and stood complacently on the landing stage.
A young gull touched down on a post at Peter Pan.
A Grey Heron kept a lookout from a dead tree near the Italian Garden.
A flock of Cormorants passed high overhead.
The Tufted Duck family can only be glimpsed occasionally under the bushes bordering the Long Water. I could see five ducklings, diving vigorously.
Gadwalls are the quietest and most well mannered of ducks, and hardly ever lose their cool. But these ones at the Vista were getting slightly excited about something.
The little Mandarin on the Round Pond was in its usual place on the gravel strip. Julia told me that it had recently been visited by its mother and one of the larger ducklings. It looks as if it will be going down to the Long Water soon.
The Egyptian family seems to be down to three goslings. They were by the Serpentine island.
An old female Emperor dragonfly, now with quite male colours, laid eggs on a twig by the bridge.
In the Rose Garden a Honeybee was having trouble climbing over the spiky flower of a cardoon.
Another was having an easier time on a gazania ...
... and there was a Greenbottle fly on another flower.
A well camoulaged moth landed on a post. I was far from sure what it is, but Conehead 54 has identified it as a Small Ranunculus, Hecatera dysodea.
Come to think of it, the little Mandarin surviving on its own is close to a miracle. It must be a really intelligent and resourceful bird.
ReplyDeleteThey say a gentleman will walk but never run, and as Gadwalls are the gentlemen of duck world, I wonder what's happened to make them lose their cool like that.
Tinúviel
That Mandarin is a very tough little bird. I saw it launching itself into a group of six pigeons and scattering them, and also attacking a Black-Headed Gull, and Julia saw it routing a Coot. Its missing tail feathers and a scar on its front tell of battles.
DeleteThe Gadwall drakes are fully in eclipse, and you'd expect them to be at their quietest. Perhaps moulting is making them itchy and cross.
Routing a Coot? Now that's a feat of titanic proportions!
DeleteTinúviel
The Coot would have been very surprised, and that might have won the day for the Mandarin.
DeleteYour moth certainly isn't a Broad-barred White- they never show the yellow mottling as here. Look at Small Ranunculus, a species that used to be very rare, but is much more common now. It's larvae feeds on Prickly Lettuce, a common ruderal of disturbed ground & I'd be surprised if there wasn't at least a few plants somewhere in the park.
ReplyDeleteYour Emperor isn't exactly resting. If you look carefully you can see her ovipositor (presumably an old female as she has male-like coloration) making contact with the bark, so presumably laying an egg.
I've never observed Emperor behaving like this but Southern & Brown Hawkers regularly do this, laying eggs into wood, often well above water.
Thank you for the identifications. The Emperor was moving slowly down the twig towards water level. I was puzzled by its male-like appearance, but now that makes sense.
DeleteThere aren't many cruciferous plants in the Rose Garden. I wonder whether it was making do with the wallflowers. Or a bit of self-seeded oilseed rape somewhere in an unseen corner.
Ralph, Prickly Lettuce isn't a crucifer but in the Asteraceae (formerly Compositae) & is in the Chicory tribe.
DeleteThank you. Then there will be more fairly closely related plants in the garden that the moth might accept.
DeleteHi!!! I am a young Philadelphia birder and was told about your blog by a local Londoner. He told me you may know of some little owls in Hyde park. I was wondering if they were still around if what my odds of seeing them at dusk tonight would be?
ReplyDeleteI don't put the location of the owls on my blog. Please write to me for information. But dusk and dawn are the best times to see them.
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