Two young Herring Gulls were bowing and moaning at each other beside the Serpentine, and it seemed like a show of teenage love. But it's very hard to tell with gulls of any species whether they're courting or about to attack each other. The display seems to be exactly the same.
Once you notice an odd-looking Lesser Black-Backed Gull, more turn up. This one, only slightly darker than a Herring Gull though the way the light falls makes it look paler, was was on the Parade Ground ...
... and this one on the Serpentine. Apart from their unusual beak markings both have grey eyes, though in the case of the first one which is only three years old this might be a transitional stage.
A Great Tit posed obligingly among rose hips.
The Robin at Mount Gate was in a Cockspur Hawthorn, Crataegus crus-galli or C. persimilis, a tree native to North America. The long sharp thorns give the common name.
A Magpie in a bin at the Lido restaurant was tired of rummaging and wanted a peanut.
The resident Grey Heron wandered along the edge hoping for a titbit from a diner.
After yesterday's picture of the Sand Martins passing through Rainham Marshes, here is a picture sent by Tinúviel of House Martins and Swallows resting on electricity cables near Cáceres on their way south.
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The Great Ctested Grebe chick at the bridge was chasing its mother.
The Coots at the bridge have got their nest back after it was occupied by a heron.
The pair at Peter Pan are sticking to their perennially unsuccessful nest on a post.
Many different birds like apples, and Coots are no exception.
The lone Mute cygnet on the Serpentine was preening with its mother. It's almost fully grown now but won't be safe from the killer swan till it can fly, and that won't be for at least another month.
A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee in the Dell worked over pink stonecrop flowers. Each little floret offers a drop of nectar.
The ivy hedge at the back of the Lido is flowering. The abundant nectar from these odd-shaped flowers is always popular with wasps. They also like the similar flowers of fatsia, a related plant.
Shasta daisies in the Rose Garden attracted a Greenbottle and a tiny fruit fly with patterned wings, probably a Tephritid but there are countless species.
Another flower had a Thick-Legged Hoverfly, Syritis pipiens.
The delusional Coot pair seem to be emotionally attached to that nest location. Their survival instincts have just completely diminished, I mean the nest is not even a nest anymore and nothing but algae slop, which is bad for Coot standards.
ReplyDeleteSean
Coots are stupid and stubborn but they are great nest builders. That remnant could be made usable and comfortable in a single day.
DeleteAt first it look like affectionate behaviour but then they started fighting, so maybe they were sizing one another up.
ReplyDeleteSean
About the chronology of swans' first flights - are they able to fly competently before their feathers are fully white? Which I guess is a sign of being mature enough.
ReplyDeleteIndeed the Great Tit was awfully obliging. It set itself out against the most fetching background and the effect is wonderful.
I confess I am utterly bewildered about gull phenotypes. There are so many variations, and then toss in hybrids or half hybrids and what you get is a headache.
Tinúviel
Young swans' first flight feathers are white, but they can fly while the rest of them is still grey. The killer swan's six teenagers are on the verge of airworthiness, but the single cygnet is younger.
DeleteAs you say, gulls are utterly confusing. All the big Larus gulls are interfertile and can have fertile hybrid offspring. I'm not sure about the smaller Common Gulls, which are Larus too, but I suspect that these could cross with the big species.