Friday 19 July 2013

A very quiet day. There was just a glimpse of a Hobby passing overhead through the trees. The Kingfisher previously seen at Peter Pan didn't appear, but everyone who watches Kingfishers knows that you can't just go and see them: they appear magically when least expected. However, a look into the water at Peter Pan showed why they had regained interest in this spot. These abundant young fish are about two inches long, just the right size for a Kingfisher. This picture shows them at about life size.


A pair of Coots nesting in the reed bed at the Italian Garden have brought out two chicks.


These are the Coots that had a long-running territorial dispute with the Mute Swans that nested in these reeds earlier, which of course they lost to the larger birds. But as soon as the swans were gone they built their nest, and this is the result.

A Nuthatch came to peck bits of brazil nut out of the old chesnut tree near the leaf yard. It always lands near the top of the tree and walks down, because Nuthatches prefer to walk down trees, and are quite unconcerned about being upside down.


Treecreepers, on the other hand, walk up trees, and I have seen a Nuthatch and a Treecreeper cross within inches without taking the slightest notice of each other. Both of them can run along the undersides of horizontal branches in their pursuit of insects in crevices in the bark.

When the Nuthatch had gone, a Great Tit came for its share of the nut. It too was quite happy being head downwards on on overhanging surface, and you can see its strong little claws gripping the surface.


The Little Owl was heard calling in the usual sweet chestnut tree, but was impossible to see. It seems to have found a perch out of sight of the ground, perhaps not surprising after so many people have pointed binoculars and cameras at it.

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