Wednesday 8 January 2014

The berries on the trees are getting sparse, but this Blackbird has found a useful crop in a small tree near the Italian Garden.


I don't know what kind of tree it is -- maybe one of the many varieties of Sorbus. Identifying trees in the park is made much harder by the presence of many exotic imports planted by enthusiastic Victorians.

There was a brief glimpse of one of the Jackdaws near the Speke obelisk, but no chance of a picture.

The reliable male Tawny Owl was in his place waiting for the daily photograph.


I know all these pictures are much the same, but how can you resist photographing such a magnificent bird?

The Little Grebe was in the bushes just beyond the reed bed near the Italian Garden.


This head-on shot shows both sides of the light-coloured 'gape', the patch of skin at the base of its bill, which is characteristic of Little Grebes. The books say that this is yellow, but in all the Little Grebes that visit this park and Regent's Park it seems to be ivory-coloured.

The grebe was annoyed by the presence of a young Grey Heron only a few feet away in the reeds, and was wisely keeping its distance from that great slashing bill.


This heron is too young to be one of the ones that hatched in the park in 2012, and is probably from the heronry on the island in Regent's Park lake. Herons fly freely between the two parks and you sometimes see them passing over Oxford Street.

A Tufted Duck and a Pochard pass each other near Peter Pan.


The Tufted Duck must be the inspiration for the rubber bath duck, with its curved beak giving it a built-in smile.

1 comment:

  1. Well observed, as ever, yesterday and today! Don't get washed away in the floods. All good wishes from the quiet and warmth of my study. There have to be some advantages of being confined to home . . .

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