A Blue Tit was waiting in the little hawthorn tree in the Rose Garden ...
... along with both the Coal Tits.
They followed me to the cercis bush where small birds often collect, so I tried to film them. They're so restless that you never get a clip of more than a few seconds.
The Coal Tits in the Dell were jumping around in the corkscrew hazel bush.
A flock of Long-Tailed Tits hunted through the bushes at the northwest corner of the bridge.
Both the Robins came out at Mount Gate, the male in the dogwood bush ...
... and the female on the railings.
The Robin by the Buck Hill shelter perched in a winged elm.
A Jay struck a pose in a holly by the bridge.
This pure white but rather grubby male Feral Pigeon is often seen at the Lido restaurant. He made a move on a female of the 'Blue Chequer' colour that is commonest in London pigeons. She wasn't interested.
A young Herring Gull in the Rose Garden watched an adult doing the worm dance, then went off and tried dancing on its own.
Pigeon Eater was on an exceptionally foul bit of the shore, but as immaculate as usual.
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Tom alerted me to the 'Wild London' programme just shown on BBC1, where there is some footage of the famous gull at work.
There was a Grey Heron preening in the nest at the west end of the island ...
... but I don't think the pair here are serious about nesting. The pair at the other end have given up too, at least for the time being. But I could just see the outline of a sitting heron in the high nest in the middle where I got an exceptionally bad picture a few days ago.
The Black Swan was remorselessly stalking 4GIQ. She doesn't repel him, but she doesn't react to his advances.
The six Mute teenagers were on the Long Water by the Italian Garden ...
... where there was also a small flock of Gadwalls.
On the slope above the garden the two Egyptian Geese stood on one leg each.
The trio of the Canada with a Canada x Greylag hybrid mate and one hybrid hanger-on seems to have grown into a quartet with the addition of one more Canada.
Black Swan has officially become a 'simp boy'.
ReplyDeleteI can safely say I have had the privilege to witness the world's famous "seabird" (Gull) in action and have managed to record some footage of an evolutionary phenomenon, all with the help of an informative World Wide Web blog.
Sean
The second Robin image properly looks 3D. You've done it again.
ReplyDeleteI was alerted to the programme by this review in The Guardian, in which Pigeon Eater is called a "herring gull", though it's an easy mistake for the uninitiated with the programme not identifying the species. And a happy New Year you are surely having. Jim
"Terrifying" and "glossy". Yep, that's our Pigeon Eater.
DeleteTinúviel
The female Robin at Mount Gate expects prompt service and gets quite irritated if I spend more than a few seconds with the camera. Quite different from the male, who sits impassively in his favourite dogwood bush. I suppose females are accustomed to being fed by their mates.
DeleteA very happy New Year to you too.
I'm almost sorry to say he's clearly very fond of her. Too much. Look at his expression.
ReplyDeleteIs the footage starring our very own Pigeon Killer yours?
I love the Coal Tits video. It's a fascinating glimpse into how they strategise and decide who flies where and when.
Tinúviel
Poor Black Swan, he's desperately lonely. Merely beating up the low-ranking Mute Swans doesn't fill his life.
DeleteI think that video of Pigeon Killer is probably bought from the PBS team who filmed him during the summer. If the BBC had come themselves they'd have been very noticeable, with cumbersome equipment and a large band of acolytes.