A reasonably bright day was made more interesting by a thunderstorm with hail in the early afternoon.
This is the other Robin in the song duel I filmed yesterday. They were still at it today. In the intervals you can hear the first Robin competing.
The friendly Robin at Mount Gate has a mate, now estranged for the winter and a potential rival for territory, but in fact the two seem to be well apart and I haven't heard any competitive singing.
Holly berries are beginning to ripen. A Great Tit perched in a tree by the bridge.
The Wren in the yew hedge in the Flower Walk appeared on the top for a moment.
A Starling perched on a roughly made sheet metal crown on a gas lamp post by the Serpentine. The older Royal Parks lamps had more stylish cast iron crowns, but they must have mislaid the mould.
A Magpie perched on the railings of the Lido restuarant waiting for a change to grab a morsel.
The aggressive Czech Black-Headed Gull preened, scratched and yawned on the edge of the Serpentine. You can see the ring reading Museum Praha ET05.589 on his left leg -- the plastic ring Orange 2V57 on the other leg was added here by Bill Haines. I don't know whether birds are actually yawning when they gape like that.
He never meets the other dominant gull on the landing stage, since they are at opposite ends of the lake.
Young gulls hung around the Great Crested Grebe family at the east end of the island, hoping to snatch a fish.
The second family of the Coots in the southeastern pool of the Italian Garden are now grown up. The first family dispersed on to the lake some time ago, and these will be going off soon.
The single Egyptian gosling was with its parents near the Lido.
A Green-Veined White butterfly fed on bidens flowers in a herbaceous border in the Rose Garden.
The stonecrop flowers have turned from green to pink and were attracting Buff-Tailed Bumblebees.
A Common Carder browsed on some modest little white flowers in a planter in the Italian Garden. I try to identify flowers but there are many kinds that look like this. They may be a kind of bacopa.
If you look closely at the Magpie, you can see its inner ear.
ReplyDeleteShame about Charlie Kirk. Just goes to show they will go to any measures to set a clear and direct message to everyone, which is further fear and control of the people. There is a big march happening this weekend and this will cause even more of an uproar.
Sean
Big march here or in the States? There's one scheduled in London.
DeleteYes, in London, by Tommy Robinson. It could get messy
DeleteYou've been watching that BBC rubbish, I see.
DeleteNo, this is inside information and outside the brainwashing media. It may course a ripple effect on the day.
ReplyDeleteThis is also to do with why they have done the train strikes for this week, so they can avoid the march proceeding and the large crowds. They are always one step ahead.
DeleteThe strike finished yesterday. The march is tomorrow. Your tinfoil hat needs adjusting.
DeleteMossad
DeleteThis is a nature blog no need for politics- we get enough elsewhere!!
ReplyDeleteYes. Sean, I'd be grateful if you would shut up about this.
DeleteThe left and police will plan a kick off
ReplyDeleteI love the picture of the Bumblebee's tiny miraculous wings. You can see every vein in them, and marvel at the detail. I know physics has proven that there is nothing impossible in a Bumblebee flying, but I like to think the Bumblebee slogan ought to read, "impossible is nothing".
ReplyDeleteTinúviel
The idea that bumblebees' wings can't support then came from considering the wings as conventional aerofoils. Bumblebees and all insects generate lift by stirring up vortices of air and shedding them downwards.
DeleteSean makes a point on the matter, I do think people are waking up to the state of this country is in
ReplyDeleteThere are political blogs for such matters. Birds don't have politicians, police or lawyers, and are all the better for it.
Delete