Sunday 23 July 2017

The female Mute Swan on the Long Water was with her cygnets. Suddenly, and for no apparent reason, she started rushing around them with her enormous wings outspread.


The family who are usually near the bridge went close to the Coots' nest, and got a furious glare from the occupant.


Later, in the same nest, the one chick saw its father coming with food, and in its haste climbed over the top of its mother.


On a raft at the east end of the Serpentine, a cygnet stared curiously at a Moorhen foraging for insects.


The Black Swan was nearby, mooching around mildly but occasionally annoyed by the dominant male swan, who is the father of this cygnet.


The six Egyptian goslings at the Round Pond were grazing under the complacent gaze of their mother. They are no growing their flight feathers, and none of them is affected by 'angel wing'.


A pair of Great Crested Grebes were displaying to each other on the Serpentine, though they didn't get as far as doing the weed dance.


This is the pair that have not yet found a nest site. They still have over a month to find one. The latest successful nesting of grebes I have seen on the Serpentine started on 1 September, and the chicks were able to fly by Christmas. As it happens, the nest was on the edge of a reed bed a few yards from the grebes in the video.

The family from the island were at the Lido.


The Coots' nest on the post at Peter Pan, no longer maintained by its makers, is sinking under the weight of ducks using it as a resting place. The usual Pochard has pushed it down to water level ...


... and when a Mallard started preening on it, it sank lower still.


A gathering of ducks on the fallen poplar at Peter Pan included the Mandarin and her two almost full-grown ducklings, at the left of this picture. They received an unwelcome visit from a Grey Heron.


There is a new family of Mallard ducklings on the Long Water, seen here at the Vista.


The female Little Owl at the leaf yard looked down sleepily from the chestnut tree.


A Carrion Crow on a tree in Hyde Park played with a plastic bag, less for the few crumbs it contained than for the interesting crinkling sound it made. Another crow wanted it.

2 comments:

  1. I think I enjoy Coot antics more than I should. They are thoughtless, temperamental, slow to learn, quick to anger, incapable of profitting from experience, and for added measure have deplorable taste in decoration. But they are so darn funny! And they are always doing something interesting.

    Did the female Swan see a dog, I wonder?

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    Replies
    1. I also much enjoy Coots.

      The swan was on the far side of the lake, a long way from the nearest dog. I think she just had a mad moment.

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