A sunny Saturday bringing hordes of visitors to the park is never a good time for seeing birds. Despite two visits to the Serpentine Gallery I missed seeing any of the Little Owls. Even the ubiquitous Great Tits were staying in the bushes. This is one of the pair that nested in the lamp post at the east end of the Serpentine.
A young Starling found an apple core at the Lido restaurant. It looks more as if the bird was fighting it rather than eating it.
An adult on a table glittered in the sunshine.
The Grey Heron chicks in the fourth nest on the Serpentine island are growing rapidly on their nutritious diet of regurgitated fish.
A Coot brought an iris leaf to the nest in the water lilies in the Italian Garden.
The four chicks from the nest under the parapet are now almost adult size.
The Mute Swans with five cygnets were keeping them safely well down the lake ...
... away from the Black Swan, who was madly throwing algae about ...
... and 4GIQ who was looking after their single cygnet by the bridge.
Six Egyptian goslings and their mother were strolling around on the path by the small boathouses, ignoring the passing humans. But if a dog appears in the distance, even on a lead, they will all hurry to the water.
The Mandarin ducklings are quite large now, and were nearby with their mother catching low flying midges.
The Pochard with her single duckling was at the Vista.
A fox looked out of the long grass a few yards to the south of the waterfront.
A large carp cruised around a pool in the Italian Garden.
A Comma butterfly perched on a nettle near Peter Pan.
The edge of the Long Water was crowded with Common Blue damselflies.
Two Buff-Tailed Bumblebees shared a scabiour flower at the back of the Lido.
A Greenbottle fly sunned itelf by the Dell.
The cygnet is getting grayer? It looks like it.
ReplyDeleteThat pair of Coots did an excellent parenting job. Four chicks fully fledged and almost out of way's harm.
What's got into him, seriously. It can't only be his Australian genes, where everything wants to kill you.
Tinúviel
I think the cygnet is the same colour. Photographs are very unreliable for judging colour, as it depends on which was the light falls.
DeleteThe Coots chose quite a good place to nest, but that might be entirely due to luck.
As for the Black Swan, he seems to be totally loopy. I could understand the actions of the old boss Mute Swan, which were perfectly sensible from a swan's point of view -- but not of the Black Swan.
Look, Black Swan is out of place and out numbered in the park. He's been down that road of isolation and he's decided to switch it up a gear to fight he's way in! Something has changed in Black Swan.. whether it be for good or for bad, it may well be the sudden shift in parenting and adapting to circumstances. Or he may still be on an adrenaline buzz from all the excitement of finally lovemaking.
DeleteSean
Today I walked through the park and up on Buck Hill I noticed two mysterious and very silent birds. My first impression was that of some kind of lark but in the end I settled on Meadow Pipit or some such species. Unfortunately, I had nothing with me to see the birds closer and so couldn't identify the species correctly.
ReplyDeleteAlong the Long Water, as I crossed the Serpentine Bridge, I also spotted a Sparrowhawk hunting and it flew into the bushes by the end of the bridge. There was also one Reed Warbler there.
Theodore
I've seen Meadow Pipits in the rough ground down the hill from Kensington Palace, so your guess seems a good one. I saw probably the same Sparrowhawk, quite ginger and therefore male, chasing parakeets on Buck Hill. He didn't catch one, but sometimes they do.
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