A Chiffchaff was calling and bouncing around in the top of an oak at the Triangle, and by chance came into view for just long enough for one snatched picture.
In the Flower Walk, that look that tells you to put down the camera and produce some pine nuts.
A Blue Tit in the yew in the Dell was also expecting prompt service.
A Jay rummaged for insects in wood chips laid down around the statue of Peter Pan.
Starlings at the Lido restaurant waited on the weathervane.
The male Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was on the usual branch in the plane tree.
At the Dell restaurant, Pigeon Eater strode up to chase rivals away from a bit of flatbread.
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The Great Crested Grebe family from the north side of the island were by the reed bed east of the Lido.
The young Moorhen by the island looked round from the kerb. It's getting its adult yellow legs.
Cormorants clustered on the fallen poplar on the east side of the Vista.
It was a busy scene, with the Black Swan and 4GIQ at the edge ...
... and the single cygnet alone as usual, with no sign of its parents who were last seen on the other side of the bridge.
A Red-Crested Pochard drake, now in his smart breeding plumage, washed and preened, fluffing up his ginger bouffant with a foot.
A Tufted drake was well on his way to full breeding plumage with bright white sides.
More Shovellers have arrived.
The fox by the Vista is now well used to people leaning over the railings and throwing him food, and doesn't flinch even when a dog goes by, safely kept away by the railings.
A squirrel in the Dell reached down a willow twig to eat the tender leaves at the tip. Willow leaves are also liked by swans and geese.
A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee browsed on Michaelmas daisies in the Rose Garden.
Now that's the strut of a high authoritative boss. The Pochard is looking dapper. The lone Cygnet just looks like a stroppy teenage that wants to be left alone.
ReplyDeleteSean
A fine looking Fox.
ReplyDeleteThe parents of the single cygnet (Scooby) had returned to the Long Water by Wednesday evening; like many of the more park-wise birds they spent the afternoon in the Lido, as being locked up during the day it's the one dog-free zone on the Serpentine.
ReplyDeleteThank you. Not enough grass there to sustain a big mob of swans and geese. The pair really ought to have brought the cygnet, but they seem completely uninterested in it now.
DeleteThink we have a similar situation developing to 3 years ago, when the pair walked their single cygnet from the Vista to the Round Pond; being amongst a flock, that one used to wander off too. I actually spotted the father of that cygnet keeping an eye on this one at the Vista while the parents were away this week.
DeleteWell, I'm glad that at least one of the parents is showing some responsibility.
DeleteThe cygnet must be able to survive on its own, right? Otherwise he'd be dead already. He's been on his own for at least a month.
ReplyDelete"Put down the camera slowly and no one gets hurt".
Tinúviel
The cygnet can eat perfectly well. They start browsing on available grass, algae and any small invertebrates they find as soon as they are hatched. But lack of parental support and the observable hostility of the adult swans around it will affect its social development, and who knows how it will turn out. It might be a case of quod non necat firmat and it will become the terror of the lake.
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