Tuesday 27 May 2014

More young Great Tits have emerged in the shrubberies all round the park. Here one vibrates its wings and utters a loud scratchy call begging for food.


And here its father arrives to feed it with a carefully pre-chewed bit of pine nut.


You should't give broken peanuts or other hard nuts to fledglings, as they can choke on the sharp fragments, but pine nuts are quite soft and crumbly, and go down well.

The young Coots are also being fed, but in this case all they get is algae dredged off the bottom the the lake.


But they seem to thrive on it, as do Mute Swans. It is remarkable that a bird can grow so fast and to such a size on such a poor-seeming diet. Here the mother swan acts as in icebreaker for her offspring as they pass through a patch of tangled water weed.


There were a lot of Swifts and House Martins swooping low over the Serpentine,  catching insects just above the surface. Rainy days make the insects fly low -- or possibly make the birds choose more low-flying insects from the selection available.


Rain also spares Swifts the need to come down to drink by skimming the water surface, as they can catch raindrops.

At this time of year Tufted Ducks like to fly around in small groups. It is not a case of males chasing females -- as you can see, in this flight the drake is in front. It seems to be a display of fitness and flying skill.


All three Tawny owlets were in their usual lime tree. Here are two of them. They are already beginning to turn an adult shade of brown.


I couldn't find their mother today, though no doubt she was not far away.

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