A Green Woodpecker flew into a tree at the Vista and started probing the bark.
The small birds are getting noticeably hungrier as the supply of insects dries up, and I was mobbed in the Flower Walk, at the bridge, and here in the Rose Garden.
The Coal Tits have become as bold as the larger ones, and are no longer hanging in the background waiting for a gap in the traffic.
A Blue Tit waited on the armrest of a bench.
The Robin was in his usual rose bush.
A white Feral Pigeon wandered through the pansies and polyanthus in the herbaceous border. It's a smart bird, much cleaner than the grubby one at the Lido restuarant.
The Robin at the southwest corner of the bridge is getting confident, and will now perch on my hand instead of trying to grab a pine nut without landing.
A Magpie looked down from an oak by the Henry Moore sculpture.
The Grey Wagtail landed briefly on a boathouse roof on its way along the Serpentine.
The usual Pied Wagtail was on the shore below. She had a bit of food, but what was it? It looks like a bit of bread, not something a wagtail would usually eat.
The tame Pied Wagtail that lived in Queensway years ago would take little bits of cheese thrown on the pavement.
Yesterday I filmed a Herring Gull doing the worm dance in the Rose Garden to the music from the funfair. Today there were four.
Another perched disrespectfully on the head of the goddess Diana.
A young Herring Gull on the Serpentine had a conker and a stone to play with, and got quite excited despite the disapproving stare of a Coot.
The Czech Black-Headed Gull hadn't been around for a while, but today it was strutting about its territory at Fisherman's Keep.
Bill Haines told me he had seen a Finnish gull on the other side of the Serpentine between the Dell restaurant and the island, and indeed had caught and ringed it: Blue 2303. I've been looking for it, but no luck so far. It was first spotted by Alan Gibson at Alexandra Palace.
A Great Crested Grebe fishing under the pontoons at the bridge saw one of the pair from the island and went into a defiant pose to protect its fishing ground.
Even when the Cormorants have massacred almost all the fish in the lake, a few remain through the winter. This one was trying its luck in the Italian Garden.
Egyptian Geese are not very ceremonious about courting, but there was a brief display before the male got down to business.
Almost all the Shovellers have left. Two drakes could still be seen on the east side of the Long Water.
I love the laughing sound of a Green Woodpecker, it's like they know an inside joke about you.
ReplyDeleteThat's the first Gull dance off I've ever seen!
Sean
I wonder if there is a connection between the worm dance and their play with rolling things. I mean, Herring Gulls do seem more creative than the rest of bigger Gulls. I wonder if the relative intelligence of the several gull species has been measured. I wouldn't be amazed if Herring Gulls came on top ot the list.
ReplyDeleteTinúviel
I can't judge the relative intelligence of the two species of big gull in the park as there are so many more Herring Gulls than Lesser Black-Backs, and in particular because the presence of the nearby breeding round of Herring Gulls means that we have a very high proportion of young ones. But the boss gull in the whole park, Pigeon Eater, is a Lesser Black-Back.
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