A Robin on a cedar in the Dell chattered irritably. There didn't seem to be any threat, so maybe it was just in a bad mood.
The Robin at Mount Gate struck a dramatic attitude.
The one in the Rose Garden sang in a pretty setting of rose hips ...
... and holly berries made a background for a Great Tit at the bridge.
Pigeon Eater was preening at the Dell restaurant. It's hard work being the handsomest gull on the lake.
%20preening%202025%201a.jpg)
There were Cormorants everywhere: seventeen in a row on the posts at Peter Pan ...
... uneasy neighbours for a Grey Heron on the island ...
... and annoying the Coot and the Mute Swan family at the bridge.
The Great Crested Grebe chick from the nest at the Dell restaurant was given a fish that it could only just get down, but it managed eventually.
The two from the east end of the island were with their father, squeaking occasionally as they waited for their mother to come back with a fish.
The young Greylag Geese that flew into the park with their parents now have completely adult feathers but their feet remain brownish compared to the pink of the adult on the left.
Warm sunshine brought out plenty of dragonflies. A Migrant Hawker perched on a reed by the bridge ...
... and there was a Common Darter on the Dell railings.
A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee enjoyed a stonecrop flower in the Rose Garden.
A large Beefsteak fungus, Fistulina hepatica, can be seen in the leaf yard ...
and Fairy Ring mushrooms, Marasmius oreades, are coming up in Hyde Park.
Blue-green algae are still active in the lake -- though actually these are cyanobacteria, not the harmless green algae. There are mats of dead cells in the downwind corners of the lake, seen here at the Dell restaurant. It is at this stage that toxins are released into the water.
The warning notice is still up, with the usual wonky grammar and syntax of park notices.
And there is a swimming event on the Serpentine tomorrow, attended by thousands of people. It will be interesting to see what happens.
That looks like it could be a world record for the most Cormorants on a post, in a line.
ReplyDeleteSean
There's a line of 22, plus two more to the side. I've seen a full house of 24.
DeleteEarlier this year I was close to a robin I am familiar with when it cocked one eye skyward like in your first still image, and that revealed a buzzard passing over at a good height. It had probably spotted it itself, as I tend to pick up on warning calls.
ReplyDeleteThere is an irritating trend these days to write or speak of "an algae", "a fungi", "a larvae" (meaning one) and so forth. The one I think makes sense is "an exuviae" where referring to one set of exuviae, as that is cumbersome language. Jim
I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Robin had spotted something in the sky that I had overlooked. That bit of the park has both Peregrines and Sparrowhawks passing over daily.
DeleteYes, I also get irritated by 'a panini' and 'a phenomena' and treating 'data' as singular. But 'agenda' is now beyond any memory of having onece been plural.
We're going to have mutant swimmers? Instead of bitten by a radioactive spider, smeared by toxic algae.
ReplyDeleteIf the angry Robin was a cat, I'd say he was nattering because he can't get at something. Or somebody.
Tinúviel
If things go awry, hundreds of sick people might band together for a class action against the organisers or the park. Of course it may pass off without incident. Open water swimmers are used to nasty things in the water, both in having hardened immune systems and in tolerating the occasional effects of pollution. But immune systems are not what they were since the covid jab.
DeleteThat sustained nattering by the Robin seemed unusual to me. Usually they tick at threats and sing at rivals.