It can take a long time to coax a shy Coal Tit in the Rose Garden into a place where it can be photographed.
Meanwhile several Great Tits ...
... and the local Robin turn up to take quantities of pine nuts.
The Blue Tit remained in a different bush laden with rose hips.
The Blackbirds in the blackthorn tree at the Lido also lurk in difficult places.
The red sweetgum tree by the Diana fountain would make a lovely background for just about any bird, but they don't like perching in it, and the spiky fruit is of no interest to them.
A young Herring Gull found what seemed to be the bottom of a drinks can in the lake, which it liked as a toy. It played with it for several minutes.
Pigeon Eater, in his usual spot by the Dell restaurant, carefully preened his wing. He is very fussy about keeping his feathers neat.
The Grey Heron at the Lido resented a Cormorant disturbing its patient fishing. It gets plenty of time to itself, though, as the number of Cormorants dwindles.
There were still two preening on the posts in the Long Water which are all that is left of the ill-fated tern raft.
The six Great Crested Grebes that arrived on the Serpentine recently are still in a compact group and haven't split up to claim territories. The one in the middle is a teenager newly able to fly.
The teenager at the east end was fishing with its mother by the reed bed.
There has been a single grebe in front of the island for some time. It's unusual to see them not in pairs. Maybe it lost its mate and hasn't found a new one.
The single young Egyptian was resting by the boathouses. I didn't want to disturb it to see how well its injured leg is recovering.
The wind got up in the afternoon, which encouraged a Mute Swan to take off. A brisk headwind reduces the considerable effort of getting airborne
In the Rose Garden a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee on a thrashing lavender flower had to cling on for dear life.
As usual, the last customer was the Robin at Mount Gate, which emerged from under a bush when called.
Was there something wrong with the Bumblebee? It looks exhausted. Could it not fly away?
ReplyDeleteThe Swan looks like it's walking on water, which in a way it is.
Not sure how the bottom of a can fits within the acceptable Gull toy catalogue. I suppose it is sufficiently rounded to pass muster.
Tinúviel
It was quite chilly, so the bee would have been sluggish. But I think that if it had been on the brink of collapse it would have lost its grip and fallen off.
DeleteGulls' taste in toys is quirky, to say the least.
Surprisingly perhaps, but I've seen Goldfinches feeding on the fruits of Liquidambers several times, so they must be able to extract the seeds. They also seem partial to the seeds of London Planes in urban areas.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. They do seem to have an ability to extract difficult seeds. The famously evolvable beaks of finches have prouced a quite narrow and sharp point for the task. Perhaps Darwin never needed to go all the way to the Galapagos to witness the process.
DeleteYes that was a fascinating study & a major part of his Theory of Evolution. Quite drab looking birds as finches go.
DeleteI read something the other day about subtle changes in the shape of the bills in Great Tits that were regularly using feeders.
There have been some mutant Great Tits in the Flower Walk with very long bills. Not subtle, and probably impairing their fitness.
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