Tuesday 14 July 2015

The Little owlets have made their first public appearance. They are teenagers now, and look much like adults but don't yet have white spots on their head. This one was visible in a maple tree near the leaf yard.


The other was higher up in the tree, calling but impossible to see. Their father kept an eye on them from a nearby branch.


There is a new Great Crested Grebes' nest on the Long Water under an oak tree near the bridge.


The one in the reeds is still going, and the family near the island could be seen too, though I couldn't see how many chicks were on their father's back.

On the other side of the Long Water, the Reed Warbler family had left the reeds and were leaping about in a holly tree, in which they could sometimes be indistinctly glimpsed. Here is one of the young ones.


Three Moorhen chicks have appeared near Peter Pan. Their parents were sensibly keeping them under the stone edge.


There was also one new Moorhen chick, perhaps more, in a clump of plants in the Italian Garden.

The rowan berries are still unripe, but Blackbirds have started eating them, both here near the Little Owls' tree and at the top of Buck Hill.


The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull had claimed another victim at the Dell restaurant. This is his mate having her turn feeding -- you can see that her legs are pale yellow, unlike the deep yellow of the other. She is also smaller, as female gulls tend to be.


Paul had seen the kill, which happened in front of a group of horrified students  who were shouting 'No! Let it go!' Gulls don't take much notice of appeals for mercy.

One of the Hobbies could be seen in the top of a plane tree in the avenue near the Speke obelisk.


This male Southern Hawker dragonfly (Aeshna cyanea) had just hatched and was making his first flight. He was very unsteady, and fell upside down in a puddle, from which he had to be rescued by the police. Steve Barnes picked him up and put her on a twig to dry.


When I went back later he had recovered and flown away. You will be glad to hear that plans to abolish the Parks Police have been shelved, and they are safe for another five years, so Steve will still be keeping order among people and insects.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Ralph
    Surely this is a Southern Hawker, not a female Emperor.
    Best wishes
    Martin

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Many thanks. I thought the stripes looked wrong. Text changed.

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