The female Little Owl at the Serpentine braved a chilly grey day and was back in her usual lime tree.
The four Jays here were constantly demanding peanuts ...
... as were a pair of Carrion Crows in the variegated holly tree near the Vista ...
... and the Magpies by the Henry Moore sculpture.
The Coal Tit at the bridge is becoming bolder, and collected three pine nuts. It's getting better at dodging through the crowd of larger birds. Its mate is still lurking shyly in the bushes.
The Robin was ticking crossly at the spectacle, but had time to come out for a pine nut.
Only one Great Tit now appears in the Rose Garden, though I occasionally see a Blackbird and a Wren skulking in the flower beds. The thoughtless destruction of the shrubbery has turned the area from a haven for at least fifty small birds into a desert.
The young Grey Heron at the bridge was by the Triangle, begging for snacks from the passers by.
Pigeon Eater had dined and was resting on the roof of the Dell restaurant.
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This restaurant was originally one of two futuristic buildings, both designed by Patrick Gwynne and completed in 1964. The other was the Serpentine Restaurant, which stood at the southeast corner of the bridge. It was built on a ground plan of nested hexagons, and featured hexagonal roof canopies. The services were placed underneath to give diners a good view, and it had a car park unobtrusively sunk into the ground. It was demolished in 1990 and not a trace remains. There is a page with more information and pictures here.
The Dell Restaurant, as it was then officially called, was built at the opposite corner of the lake. It was declared Grade II in 1995 and was restored a few years ago.
A Black-Headed Gull eyed a Moorhen picking algae off the marble fountain on the edge of the Italian Garden.
The Cormorants have now mostly left the lake after eating almost all the medium-sized fish. One remained on the Long Water, fishing by the reed beds under the Italian Garden. It swam past Peter Pan playing with a reed stem.
The teenage Great Crested Grebe is still fishing in the reeds, evidently with success as it shows no sign of leaving.
One of the young grebes at the bridge was fishing around the baskets ...
... while the other noisily chased its mother under the bridge.
The Moorhen in the Dell is alone again. None of its attachments seem to last more than a few weeks.
The smallest young Egyptian Goose was also alone, and I've seen it by itself several times in the past few days. Are the other Egyptians bullying it?
The Black Swan and 4GIQ hurried over for their daily issue of sunflower hearts.
I share Pigeon Eater’s liking for the Dell restaurant but wish I could have seen the original Serpentine restaurant. Thanks for the link.
ReplyDeleteI used to walk past it on my way to work. No idea why it was demolished, but I would have expected its strange roof to leak. Both restaurants were operated by Forte when they opened, but that firm is down the drain of history too, having been absorbed into Granada in 1996.
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