A Coal Tit in the Flower Walk looked out from the leaves of a dogwood bush.
The one in the Dell was in its usual yew tree, a safe and sheltered place for a very small bird.
The female Chaffinches in the Flower Walk ...
... and the Rose Garden also appeared. Unlike the males, they don't catch thrown pine nuts in the air and have to fed on the ground, which is difficult if there are pigeons about.
There were eager looks from the Robins at the southwest corner of the bridge ...
... and Mount Gate.
Starlings at the Dell restaurant chattered as they waited for a chance to grab scraps off a table.
A Magpie in the Dell showed off the iridescence on its wings and tail.
Tom found a Fieldfare in the top of a hawthorn at Rainham Marshes, so it's time to start looking out for winter migrant thrushes.
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He also got unusual pictures of Bearded Tits flying high over the reeds.
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The tunnel under the north side of the Serpentine bridge is now closed while the stonework is repaired, so the local Grey Heron will have less opportunity to beg off passers by. A Carrion Crow eyed it, plotting mischief.
Pigeon Eater lunged at a Feral Pigeon, but it saw him in time.
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A Mute Swan bit experimentally at a small potato someone had put on the edge, but abandoned it. People have the strangest ideas about what to feed birds.
A Black-Headed Gull examined the potato next and also rejected it.
The young Great Crested Grebe at the east end of the Serpentine was fishing out in the open water. It caught a fish, but swallowed it before I could get the camera on it. It was an encouraging sight anyway.
Pairs of Egyptian and Greylag Geese called routinely to each other as they went about their business. Both would make far more noise if excited. They are the loudest creatures in the park.
Ahmet Amerikali was at Southwark Park , where he got a picture of one of the Little Grebes ...
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... and an action shot of a Mallard drake taking off.
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We saw ten or twelve Little Grebes in our usual birding patch. They were keeping close together, so I imagine they were just arrived and hadn't established territories yet.
ReplyDeleteNow I wonder, is there a bird that would eat raw potatoes? It was always said, if there is something, there is a bird willing to eat it.
Tinúviel
I do miss our Little Grebes. We had a small population on the Long Water till 2012 when the pestilential Olympics descended on the park. Then they tried to clear the algae in the lake for the swimmers by adding large amounts of a noxious and slightly radioactive stuff called Phoslock. It made the water opaque for several days. The Little Grebes couldn't see to hunt, so they flew out and have never come back. There was no effect on the algae.
DeleteRaw potatoes contain poisonous solanine, which is broken down by cooking. The plant is a member of the nightshade family along with the tomato and aubergine. All have been suspected at some time of being poisonous -- hence the Italian word for an aubergine melanzana (= mala insana). At one time in the 18th century the cultivation of potatoes was illegal in France, though curiously at the same time it was compulsory in Prussia under Frederick the Great. My article 'The Troubled History of the Potato' can be read here.
My God, that's an article for the ages! You should put up a link to your stories, articles, and ballad collections in the blog landing page because they deserve all the readership it can get.
DeleteTinúviel
Certainly haven't been many winter thrushes so far. I've seen a few Redwings on several occasions but had my first 3 Fieldfare of the autumn last week in Richmond Park, but none since.
ReplyDeleteWell, they are trickling in, though slowly. Over the next few days I will go to the place in Kensington Gardens where early Redwings tend to arrive, and listen for that mild twittering sound.
DeleteGiven the change in wind direction in the next couple of days there's probably a good chance of a few more arriving, Ralph.
DeleteLooking extremely forward to it. Today's Song Thrush will tide me over for a couple days at least.
DeleteTinúviel
It was a bit of luck that the Song Thrush was more or less visible through a gap in that holly tree. Usually you can't see anything there.
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