On a chilly grey day it was a surprise to see the male Little Owl at the Ranger's Cottage out on the edge of his hole. This is on the shaded side of the tree and the dim light has reduced the colours in the picture almost to monochrome sepia.
There was a bit of colour at Mount Gate, where the local male Chaffinch perched in currant blossom ...
... and there was a Blue Tit in the forsythia.
Another Blue Tit perched on the Russian olive bush in the Rose Garden, undeterred by its ferocious spikes.
This bush, Elaeagnus angustifolia, is sometimes called 'oleaster', which is misleading as it is nothing to do with the unrelated true oleaster or wild olive, Olea oleaster, which was the source of the olive wreaths awarded to victors at the ancient Olympic Games.
A Coal Tit preferred a rose bush.
A Long-Tailed Tit near the Italian Garden turned round on a twig but its tail didn't, catching on a bud. The agile bird wasn't bothered by this, which must happen all the time.
A male Greenfinch perched in the top of an alder, a favourite tree with finches of all kinds which eat the seeds of its black fruits in winter when there aren't many insects.
A Jackdaw in a hawthorn below looked about to go supersonic.
A female Pied Wagtail was catching midges on the roof of the boat hire building. One sneaked past her.
A pair of Great Crested Grebes fished together under the edge of the platform. The male is on the left here, as you can see from his wider crest.
The second brood of two young Grey Herons on the island could be seen through myrobalan blossom. They are already almost fully grown, though it will be some time before they are independent.
The Black Swan chased off 4GIQ's Mute mate.
He has made a nest by the Diana fountain reed bed, and was trying to get her interested in it. She tolerates him but remains indifferent.
The undergrowth at the Triangle gave a pair of Mute Swans a selection of grasses and weeds to vary their diet.
The pair of Egyptian Geese from the Rose Garden were in the Dell, grazing under the big old pink magnolia tree.
The mothers at Fisherman's Keep ...
... and the Lido were sheltering their goslings, so it wasn't possible to count them.
A sadly thin and tatty fox with an injured hind leg limped across the path by the Henry Moore sculpture.
I think this could be Black Swans year. He's showing signs of relentless dominance behaviour, and this may work in his favour.
ReplyDeleteIt is always so nice to read a joyous blog. Something so different to the enmity conflict megaton world.
Sean
That poor fox looks in very bad shape. Poor thing. I wonder, are there charities like the Swan Sanctuary, but for foxes?
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand the magnolia tree, the colourful little birds and the sepia-tinted Little Owl look smashingly good.
Now that I notice it, I think the Girlfriend is actually larger than the Black Swan?
Tinúviel
I fear that the fox is not long for this world. But foxes are always with us, and they are born, live and die on their own terms.
DeleteYes, Black Swans are considerably smaller than Mute Swans, Our Black Swan is large for his species but he is still the smallest swan on the lake. However, what he lacks in size he makes up in fury, and he has a high rank in the savage hierarchy of the lake.
I wonder if 4GIQ is holding out for a Mute suitor who would challenge the Black Swan, partially as a test for her most recent mate. She may yet concede these are notions above her station, as the more dominant cobs are rarely single. Or do I guess wrongly? Jim
DeleteIf she does she'll be disappointed. The Black Swan can be and has been beaten by the absolute boss from the Long Water, after which he retired to the Round Pond for a while. But otherwise he seems to stand up to all the others by a combination of bluff and fury. He would lose a full-out fight by being smaller, but it never seems to come to that.
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