The Great Crested Grebe at the east end of the Serpentine island has now hatched out. Two chicks are reported but I could only see one when I was there. A parent was bringing it it small feathers to aid its digestion. There are plenty of small fish around the island to feed it with.
A Grey Heron was hanging around. I don't think it presents much of a threat to the chicks, as both nests are overhung with branches, the parents carry the chicks safely, and if a heron did try to interfere it would suffer a painful underwater attack on its ankles.
It's not clear how far advanced the other two nests are, but both are still going ahead. This is the one under the Dell restaurant balcony.
The nest under the willow at the bridge can only be seen from across the lake. Binoculars don't give much of a view, and this is the best I can do with a hefty 600mm lens.
There was another surprise today, a teenage grebe resting by the south shore of the Serpentine. It looks as if the grebes are adopting the same strategy as the Greylag and Canada Geese, breeding in safer places outside the park and bringing in their young when they can fly.
News from elsewhere: Ahmet Amerikali found the Little Grebes in Southwark Park with a chick, here seen about to take a fish from a parent.
%202025%201a.jpg)
And Jon got a pleasing shot of a Little Grebe in Clissold Park with two chicks.
%202025%201a.jpg)
Back on the Serpentine, the Black Swan cruised over for some sunflower hearts.
The single Egyptian gosling had survived another day and was on the edge by the boathouse with its mother watching it anxiously.
A Coot and a Black-Headed Gull had a confrontation. It was the gull that backed off.
A Coot on the nest on the post at Peter Pan had a Cormorant standing ominously above it.
A Moorhen wandered through the brambles under the willow at the bridge.
It was a hot day and the small birds were staying in the shade. A Great Tit looked out from the big yew at the corner of the Dell.
A Starling at the Lido restaurant kept cool under a table.
A tatty Jay by the Henry Moore sculpture waited in an oak before swooping down for a peanut.
There was still a Lesser Emperor dragonfly hunting under the bridge.
Yet another insect on the clump of hemp agrimony in the Dell, a male Brown Hairstreak butterfly.
Pictures sent in by Jenna: a young Wood Pigeon was stuck in the basement area of a house with no stairs to reach it. Hooray for the London Fire Brigade who rescued it with two ladders. It was taken away by one of the rescue volunteers to be looked after.
Well done on the London Fire Brigade! If any of them should visit Spain, perhaps they'd enjoy accompanying the police here rescuing overeating vultures.
ReplyDeleteExtremely didactic video of the raised-wing posture of Grebes when carrying chicks. I don't think it is sufficiently remarked how extremely good and clear the image quality in your videos are: they can be enlarged almost to the point of pain and the image will not suffer for it.
Tinúviel
Yes, I also thought of the Spanish police being nannies to vultures when I saw that picture.
DeleteMy videos are all shot in 4K, which is 3840 x 2160 pixels. I chose this very high quality format because, paradoxically, YouTube does less damage to it than it does to HD, which is half the linear size. However, anything shot at extreme zoom is slightly degraded because the lens only goes up to 480mm and beyond that I have to use digital zoom.
Good to see the continued presence of Lesser Emperor(s) in the park.
ReplyDeleteIs that the first record of Brown Hairstreak in the park? They certainly are spreading We have quite a few places locally where they are now found. Pretty sure this is a male as females are much brighter (I saw several locally last week) & the males have been out longer.
Certainly that's the first Brown Hairstreak I've seen in the park. But butterfly records aren't kept as carefully as those for birds.
DeleteI thought it was too bright for a male, but was only going by comparison with stock pictures. Will change.