Monday 24 June 2013

The Nuthatches at the southwest corner of the leaf yard have some young. It wasn't clear how many there were, because they were being fed on the far side of a bush. There was also a young Song Thrush, whose parent chased away a Jay that had come too close.

The Little Owl was visible in his usual tree after an interval of several days.


But I don't think we are ever going to see this pair's family, if indeed there is one. Once they have left the nest they may be anywhere, but most likely in the shelter of the leaf yard where they are almost impossible to see.

The two Common Terns were in their usual place. Here the female, on the left, shrieks at her mate to go and get her a fish. He did, after five minutes of loud prompting from a distance of a few inches.


He also picked up some bread from the surface of the water, which is not what one would expect a tern to do. Probably he thought it was some kind of water creature, and was disappointed to find a soggy morsel of no interest.

The tern raft in the Long Water has been floating lower and lower in the water, and seems to be on the verge of sinking. It was left unfinished when it was built, and no one has ever seen a tern on it. It will not be missed -- though it would be splendid if we had a proper tern raft with pebbles and shelters and actually got the birds to nest here. There is no reason why they shouldn't: lots of terns nest on rafts in London reservoirs.

The two broods of Greylag goslings are growing rapidly, and both families were together touting for food near the Triangle car park. This is the elder brood of three; the other six are a little smaller.


And the Egyptian blonde was looking attractively windswept at the Dell restaurant.


Her flight feathers are growing and so far her wings seem to be straight -- always a worry with Egyptian Geese because of the high prevalence of 'angel wing' among the population in the park.

No comments:

Post a Comment