It looks as if Pigeon Eater and his mate have raised at least one chick. I saw it from a distance on the roof of the Dell restaurant begging at its father.
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By the time I got near enough to film them it had transferred its attention to its mother, while Pigeon Eater patrolled overhead. Then it flew out on to the Serpentine with both parents.
(There may be two young ones, as I saw it distantly on the water with another young gull, but I'm not sure about that.)
The Black Swan was nearby eating algae ...
... and so was one of the leucistic Greylag Geese. They have surprising blue eyes.
The Tufted Duck was by the island. She now has only two ducklings, sadly but inevitably.
So does the Mallard on the Serpentine.
At least the little Mandarin on the Round Pond was all right. It was resting on the gravel strip.
Three young Egyptian Geese reclined by a clump of ragwort, and one of them found it palatable. It pecked at its sibling, perhaps to stop it from sharing the meal.
When you see a Wood Pigeon reaching down to eat elderberries you know it's going to lose its grip and fall out of the tree. This one by the bridge made quite a neat recovery.
A young Great Tit perched lower down in the tree on a cluster of berries the pigeon couldn't reach.
Both the Coal Tits in the Flower Walk came out in a yew tree. This is the more presentable of the two.
There was a Blue Tit also looking only slightly worse for wear.
A family of Long-Tailed Tits hunted in a holly tree beside the Long Water. Here is one of this year's young.
There were Red-Eyed Damselflies on the algae in the Italian Garden ...
... but I haven't yet seen a Small Red-Eyed one. They come out later.
A Comma butterfly landed on a leaf at the bridge. Even when you can only see its dull underside it's a handsome creature. Like many butterflies it seems to have only four legs. The front pair are reduced and useless, and can be seen in this picture.
A Meadow Brown fed on a burdock.
A bright Indian Blanket flower in the Rose Garden attracted a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee. It took a while to deal with all the little florets in the centre of the flower.
A Common Banded Hoverfly rested on a thistle leaf.
Well, We'll soon see if intelligence and inventiveness is an inherited or acquired trait, at least for gulls.
ReplyDeletePoor small birds are looking so shabby. Moulting season cannot come soon enough.
Tinúviel
And time. It took Pigeon Eater several years of patient experiment to reach the stage where he can get a pigeon several times a day if he wants.
DeleteEven the teenage Long-Tailed Tit is looking a bit frayed, but if you have a tail like that it does get damaged by dodging through the twigs.
Though your photo correctly shows Red-eyed Damselfly, both species are on the wing now & as you say Small Red-eyed does appear a bit later than Red-eyed. I saw both species in the Italian Garden last month when I came up to see the Red-veined darters & found a Lesser Emperor.
ReplyDeleteYes, I was expecting Smalls and surprised not to find one. The slight cooling of the weather in the past few days has reduced the surface spread of the algae in the pools, so there is less room for them to settle.
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