The boss Mute Swan on the Long Water seems to have hit it off with his new mate, the second candidate since he lost his original mate on 2 January. They were displaying near the nesting island ...
... which already shows traces of a visit with trampled plants and a few white feathers.
His six teenagers from last year are now part of the ordinary population of the Serpentine, though they arrived quite high in the pecking order thanks to their ferocious father.
The nesting basket at the east end of the Lido was occupied by a big male, 4GIS, who was snorting fiercely. I didn't see any possible mates in the area.
Two of the three Red-Crested Pochard drakes, in full breeding plumage with their ginger bouffant hairdos, dived for algae at the Lido.
A few more Shovellers have arrived on the Long Water.
A Cormorant was fishing in the pools in the Italian Garden.
A young one, still with a pale front, stood on a post at the Serpentine island.
There was a Grey Heron on the nest at the west end, but no sign of other activity.
Three Black-Headed Gulls perched on a notice by the Dell restaurant. Two of them had rings put on by Bill Haines -- he changed from orange to blue plastic rings as the orange ones were not visible enough against the colour of the gulls' legs.
A Robin sang quietly to itself in a bush in the reed bed by the Diana fountain.
The Robin near the Buck Hill shelter was waiting as usual ...
... and so was the female of the pair at Mount Gate, with her mate singing out of sight.
Great Tits crowded into a wintersweet bush in the Flower Walk ...
... and one of the Coal Tit pair perched among hazel catkins.
There was another in the cercis bush in the Rose Garden ...
... along with plenty of Blue Tits ...
... and the male Chaffinch.
There aren't many things in this world that compares to songbirds singing. The Robin singing softly reminds me of the great Frank Sinatra, as he stretches a note at such low pitch.
ReplyDeleteSean
Nice to see 4GIS on the Lido nesting basket; he paired up with 4GZF at the Round Pond (first noticed them together on New Year's Eve), and thought they would have had to fly further afield if they wanted to nest somewhere this year.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there are already 2 pairs in the area (4FUM / 4GIQ nest at the Landing Stage, 4DTP / 4FUL by the Lido Terrace) so could get a bit tricky.
More and more I think that putting in those three baskets within sight of each other was an idiotic mistake. Amazed that 4FUM isn't more active against the Black Swan.
DeleteMy God, she's a perfect little sphere.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why and how the new Lady Boss was chosen. She's a mild-tempered creature, as today's entry shows. I would expect he'd choose someone after his savage heart.
Tinúviel
Perhaps the boss swan had a hard time with his tough last mate and deliberately chose a meek creature that he could dominate. It happens often enough with humans.
Delete