Tuesday 4 June 2013

A pair of Common Terns were visiting the Long Water, probably having come down from the Grand Union Canal where they are more often seen. They were clearly mates, calling to each other in a familiar way, and one of them offered the other a fish. There was no shortage of fish, as both birds were hauling them out of the top of the lake next to the Italian Garden as fast as they could eat them.


It is a shame that the 'tern raft' on the Long Water was never finished. Some of the reservoirs and lakes in outer London support breeding colonies of Common Terns; you can see a success story from Hounslow here. Note the shingle on the surface and the shelters for the birds, in this case chunks of breezeblock though ceramic ridge tiles are also used, or small buckets on their side. Terns normally nest communally and don't mind being close together. A smaller design that has also worked well is a narrow rectangle with the nest shelters in a row.

The Common Terns is also known as a 'Sea Swallow' because of its forked tail and swooping flight, though there is little resemblance between this long slim bird and the much more compact outline of a Swallow. Here is a recent picture of the latter, a very beautiful bird but quite different.


A male Chaffinch near the bridge was singing his 'rain song', a monotonous repeated chirp quite unlike the elegant trill and turn of its full song. The song is so named because it was thought that it foretold rain. It doesn't.


The seven Mute Swan cygnets, the seven Greylag goslings, and the three Great Crested Grebe chicks were all visible and in good order. The swan and geese parents have already started touting their offspring round the edge of the lake begging for food, a very effective technique as people can't resist these fluffy little birds.

The Little Owl was sunbathing in his usual sweet chestnut tree, but there is still no sign of owlets.


They are usually out by the end of May, but of course everything has been running late this year.

2 comments:

  1. Ralph,
    Thank you for posting the link to a tern raft. I had described such a thing to our own park management back in the San Francisco Bay Area and will now be able to pass the link on to them. Our own terns are in decline, possibly due to competition with Western Gulls for space. Tern raft might be helpful. I return to California tomorrow and will give the park birds the last of my pine nuts today.

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    1. Hope you succeed in putting the idea over to the park management. From my experience here, you need a piledriver to get your ideas into managers' heads.

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