The Song Thrush at the leaf yard was still singing well, and so was the local Chiffchaff which I filmed on 18 June.
A young Carrion Crow came up to beg from a parent and didn't get much, so I gave it a peanut which I had crushed to make it easier to peck open. The youngster is learning the technique, which is a 10-second job for an adult.
The male Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery could be seen in his usual lime tree ...
... and an owlet in the chestnut.
Two Jays chased each other through the lime, pausing occasionally to grab peanuts.
A young Great Spotted Woodpecker called from a clump of American oaks down the hill from the Queen's Temple.
On a hot afternoon a Grey Heron was sunbathing on the roof of the Italian Garden loggia, which was built with authentic Roman pantiles: flat tegulae with upturned edges covered by half-round imbrices to make a water seal.
A Cormorant on a post at Peter Pan was panting and fluttering its throat to cool down.
The Great Crested Grebes nesting at the island now have two eggs.
A pair of grebes have stolen the Coots' nest under the Dell restaurant balcony, which the Coots hadn't finished using. Although a grebe can easily dismiss a Coot, the Coots usually win these disputes through dogged persistence.
The Coots in the southeast pool in the Italian Garden ...
... have new neighbours in the northeast pool.
The nest strangely situated in the middle of the Long Water has been built up with reed stems.
The Black Swan seems to have finally given up sitting on the infertile eggs. He was with 4GIQ and their cygnet near the bridge. Probably he has seen her with her original Mute mate and got jealous.
The Pochard and her duckling were at the Vista.
A male Lesser Emperor dragonfly hunted over the water at Peter Pan.
The summer border plants in the Rose Garden are now in, and the bees are making their choices. There were several Honeybees on purple foxgloves.
The repairs to the bridge are now complete and the scaffolding is being taken down. There are two new sections of balustrade in honey-coloured Bath limestone, and the damaged portions at either side have been pieced together and patched.
That appears to be a juvenile Great Spotted, with red on the top of its head.
ReplyDeleteAre you ever seeing either Gadwall with young, or the female Mallard with suspected Gadwall hybrid young? Jim
Thank you. I thought it looked a bit odd.
ReplyDeleteI've never known Gadwalls to breed in the park. I am told, not on cast iron authority, that they breed in artificial nesting places in Buckingham Palace gardens.
The duck I thought was a Gadwall x Mallard hybrid now seems to be an old female Mallard whose single ovary has failed so that she is turning into a male-looking duck.