There was only one Grey Wagtail in the park over the winter. It stayed here because it had been hatched near the bridge, in the Triangle shrubbery. Now two have turned up and are hunting midges over the water, which are plentiful now. Maybe they will nest in the same place.
Here is one of them with a midge.
A female Pied Wagtail used a post at the Vista as a hunting station.
The Little Owl at the Ranger's Cottage was in the same place as yesterday and the day before. The light was better, but it's still on the shaded side of the tree.
There are at least twenty Blue Tits in the Rose Garden. One perched in magnolia buds ...
... and another in the Wedge-Leaf Wattle by the gate.
A Great Tit waited in a pink-flowered cherry tree.
One of the Coal Tits at the bridge looked down from a holly twig. It takes some work to give it pine nuts, as it won't come to my hand and there are Feral Pigeons on the ground ready to grab anything dropped there. We manage somehow, but it would be helpful if it got a bit more confident.
Ahmet Amerikali photographed one of the Long-Tailed Tits carrying a feather dropped by Egyptian Goose. They find feathers all over the ground, but there may also be a dead bird in the bushes which they somehow manage to pluck with their tiny beaks.
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A Robin posed grandly in the forsythia at Mount Gate.
Four Grey Herons squabbled over food at the Lido.
The young herons in the top nest on the island are restless and wanting to explore, but they aren't yet quite ready to venture far out of the nest. Even after they first come out they will return to be fed for some time until they are independent.
Pigeon Eater and his mate shouted at a Herring Gull that had invaded their place on the Dell restaurant roof. The gull refused to budge and shouted back.
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It seems that washing, like preening, is infectious even across species. Egyptian Geese and a Carrion Crow were enjoying a splash on the Serpentine.
The Egyptians at Fisherman's Keep, despite constant vigilance, lost another gosling a couple of days ago and now have six. But these are growing fast and their chances of survival are increasing daily.
A pair of Pochards cruised past the Vista.
A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee browsed on a wallflower in the Rose Garden.
The flowers on the paperbushes at the corner of the Dell are beginning to wilt but there is still plenty of nectar for a Hairy-Footed Flower Bee.
I've been following along for weeks now and the overnight devastation of the little duckies is heartbreaking T^T
ReplyDeleteIt happens too often. The Serpentine is a very dangerous place for goslings and ducklings. The Canadas and Greylags have wisely taken to breeding outside the park and bringing in their young as soon as they can fly.
DeleteIf the Egyptians at Fisherman's Keep manage to raise half of them to adulthood I'd be miraculous. I try not to get to attached to the poor little things. It's a very cruel world for them.
ReplyDeleteOn to cheerier things: for a split second I thought the Blue Tit was growing on the magnolia tree!
I have to wonder how the lone Grey Wagtail managed to survive the winter. It must be a very resourceful and hardy bird.
Tinúviel
Yes, I did deliberately choose a magnolia picture where the Blue Tit was posing like a bud.
DeleteAs far as I can see, in winter both kinds of wagtails live mainly on tiny white larvae of unknown species that they find in the algae on the edge of the lake. Not much nourishment and a lot of work, which is why you always saw them so busy. They can ease off a little now that midges are plentiful.
Nice to see the Grey Wagtails. Sadly over the last few months they seem to have become somewhat elusive locally. I had several places where I regularly saw them, but largely drawing a blank recently.
ReplyDeleteWe'll have to see how this develops. The last breeding by Grey Wagtails in the park was two years ago, and the solitary one that has stayed in the park is their offspring. We have never had many.
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