Kensington Gardens was still closed when I went into the park, as the police poked around for radioactive drones. The female Grey Wagtail was collecting midges for her nestlings at the bridge ...
... and a male Pied Wagtail was hunting for himself.
In the greenhouse enclosure a male Blackcap launched himself off a twig.
A male Blackbird perched on a pollarded lime tree in the Rose Garden.
A female dug a hole in wood chips under a tree near the Dell, looking for insects. At 7 seconds into this clip she found a larva.
A Coal Tit perched in a yew in the Dell ...
... above the pair of Mallards which have been in the same place for several days.
The Long-Tailed Tits nesting on the edge of the Ranger's Cottage garden were gathering insects for their young.
A Great Crested Grebe was fishing by herself near the Serpentine outflow.
The Black Swan's Mute girlfriend rested on one of the swan nesting baskets while he patrolled the water in front. The nesting Coots have had two kinds of geese here already and were not going to be scared off. Later the swans went away.
The large patch of green alkanet by the greenhouses attracted at least four kinds of bee, and I got pictures of a Common Carder ...
... a worker Early Bumblebee ...
... a female Hairy-Footed Flower Bee ...
... and a Red Mason Bee, Osmia bicornis.
Other insects included a Speckled Wood butterfly on a bluebell ...
... and, in the Rose Garden, a Flesh Fly, a Sarcophaga species, maybe S. carnaria, on a polyanthus.
Kensington Gardens reopened just as I was going home, so I went in at Mount Gate and found the familiar female Robin ...
... and along the Flower Walk where a Blue Tit was waiting in a bush ...
... and a Jay looked expectant on a stump.
I'm very glad that nothing was the matter; I'm sure the expectant and hungry small birds would join me in the sentiment.
ReplyDeleteDo you remember about the previous Black Swan, that it always had some sort of Coot flotilla around acting almost like its security team?
Tinúviel
The small birds have probably been enjoying the peace and quiet of not having humans and dogs milling around. They have plenty to eat now, and noticeably fewer are coming out for pine nuts.
DeleteI don't think Coots help anyone, even other Coots. Perhaps they felt threatened by this giant black creature like a super-Coot.