Another Great Crested Grebe nest has hatched out, this time the one under the Dell restaurant balcony. One chick was visible, but there are likely to be more. A parent bringing a feather had difficulty reaching the chick, as the nest, which is a reused Coot nest, is much higher than grebes are used to.
At the island, two of the three chicks reached out to be fed.
There's no sign of hatching yet at the nest in the willow by the bridge.
On the other side of the bridge the Coots persisted in occupying their nest, despite its having failed again and again.
A Moorhen at the Vista was finding small white larvae and giving them to a chick.
The Mute Swan family were also here, none the worse for having eaten toxic blue-green algae yesterday.
The Black Swan was near the Lido, preening his fine ruffles.
The Grey Heron that fishes from the charging platform for the electric boats was having a rest. They do look odd lying down.
The bacterial scum on the small waterfall in the Dell has washed away, and the usual young heron was back looking for fish.
Mrs Pigeon Eater was having a rare quiet moment while her noisy offspring was busy preening.
A Wood Pigeon wa eating the fruit off lords and ladies plants in the Dell, which it did by jumping on the stems to bend them over to the ground. All parts of the plant are poisonous but Wood Pigeons seem to have a high resistance to plant toxins.
In checking the plant I found that its root was once baked, ground and used as thickener like arrowroot. The heat destroyed the toxin but a bitter tate remained, so it was only a famine food. The powder was also used as a starch for ruffs, but found to cause skin blistering.
Jackdaws can turn up anywhere in the park, but they all know me and expect peanuts. This one was on the lawn between the Dell and the Rose Garden.
A Carrion Crow drank at the Huntress fountain in the Rose Garden. The fountain has stopped working yet again -- it never runs for more than a few weeks -- but the bowl fills with rainwater and is a valuable resource for the birds at the east end of the park.
I've never seen a duck on the duckboards in the Italian Garden fountains, but they provide a place for Feral Pigeons to bathe and socialise.
It's been some time since I saw a Coal Tit at Mount Gate, but one turned up today ...
... along with the usual tatty Robin.
A Tree Bumblebee fed on a Michaelmas daisy in the Rose Garden.
There was a Hornet Hoverfly on the hemp agrimony in the Dell.
Hm. The Grebe parent attempting to maneuver into the nest reminds me rather uncomfortably of some of my attempts to back the car between two menacing-looking columns.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it's the toxic algae that keeps swans in their customary surly disposition. I know I would be morose and vicious if I had perennial heartburn.
Tinúviel
I haven't seen how the sitting grebe manages to climb onto the high nest. I think it must jump out of the water and crash on it, then wriggle into place.
DeleteWe only have toxic algae sometimes, but swans are furious all year round. You have to admire their perennial bile.
I haven't seen that many Hornet Hoverflies this year but did see one yesterday on a Buddleja in my back garden & had one Monday on Creeping Thistle at Warren Farm.
ReplyDeleteYour Common Carder Bee looks more like a Tree Bumblebee to me. A bee that seems to have declined considerably since the heatwave of 2022.
Thank you for the correction. I noticed at least that it wasn't the same shade as the Common Carders around at the moment, which have faded from ginger to a washed-out blond. I will keep an eye out for Tree Bumblebees, not a species I have seen much of here.
DeleteThere are quite a lot of Hornet Hoverflies here, in several places. There were three on the hemp agrimony clump the day before, but they were rushing around madly and impossible to photograph.
Good to know you have good numbers there.
Delete