There are certainly two singing male Reed Warblers in the park, with more probably to come. One could be glimpsed lurking in the reeds under the Diana fountain.
A pair of Long-Tailed Tits dashed around in a hawthorn by the Italian Garden.
Some of the hawthorns by the Long Water are in blossom, making a background for a Great Tit.
A Blue Tit waited in new leaves at Mount Gate.
A Jay looked imperious by the Speke obelisk.
A Carrion Crow by the Serpentine had taken and eaten several peanuts and, not wanting any more for the time being, was burying the excess ones. I'm sure it will remember exactly where it put them.
A white Feral Pigeon was lying on the path by the Henry Moore, looking inert and pathetic. Just as I was thinking 'Oh poor thing, it must have something wrong with its feet' ...
... it got up and strolled casually away on eight healthy pink toes.
The Egyptian Geese which nest in a tree hole by the Henry Moore lawn have hatched six goslings. They brought them down to the gravel strip on the edge of the Long Water, where they could be seen from the other side. Parenting skills vary hugely among Egyptians and this pair are pretty incompetent, so the goslings' chances are not good.
The five at the Lido were feeding on the bank at the back.
Egyptians have reclaimed the nest basket where I photographed the Canadas yesterday. The nesting Coots remained unmoved.
The Black Swan was chasing his girlfriend 4GIQ's proper mate, as he does every time the poor swan tries to reclaim her.
The female 4DVZ nesting at the outflow got off her eggs ...
... to graze. I could see six eggs but am told that there are seven. Being large, they keep warm for quite a long time while the swan is off the nest.
A Speckled Wood butterfly sunned itelf on an ivy leaf in the Flower Walk.
The only bees to be seen were the ubiquitous Hairy-Footed Flower Bees, but there was a Dark-Edged Bee fly showing off its absurdly long legs and proboscis on a wallflower in the Rose Garden ...
...while a Common Drone Fly rested on a dead flower. It's really not much like the Honeybee it mimics, but even a faint resemblance gives it some slight protection against predation by birds.
Sunshine lit the Albert Memorial against a rainy sky.
Lovely photo of the Albert Memorial . Thank you
ReplyDeleteI'm very fond of it. At the same time magnificent and ludicrous.
DeleteHi Ralph. That Canada couple in the basket currently fly in and out of the park. They were gone gone a week. Then back yesterday and this morning still there but tonight gone....they usually settle down back in the park by May. Glad to see her doing great after her dog bite ordeal.
ReplyDeleteJenna
Thank you. I do see geese flying over South Kensington in the evening, apparently commuting to the river. Now that so many of them are ringed it would be interesting to try to trace their movements. I must talk to Bill Haines and see if he has any reports.
DeleteI wonder, was the Albert Memorial designed to look sunlit even in grey rainy days? Sometimes it looks like it was.
ReplyDeleteRe. the perfectly fine pigeon, i am reminded of the very anxious five minutes we spent watching a little Sanderling hop about on one foot. It hopped on and off getting out of the waves' way. We feared the worst. Until suddenly it happened to tire of the game, plopped the other foot down, and began running around proper-like. Who knows what goes on in those heads.
Tinúviel
The Albert Memorial is startlingly gaudy, and most of its surfaces are gilded or glazed so that the rain washes it. Since it was restored and the original gilding renewed it has never failed to glitter. But obviously that picture was taken in sunlight with a grey cloud as a background.
DeleteSometimes I think that birds stand on one leg to taunt us for having such a poor sense of balance.