Wednesday 4 October 2017

The Little Grebe on the Round Pond sheltered beside the platform. It wasn't sheltering from the waves -- in fact it was on the windward side -- but from the Herring Gulls flying overhead.


David Element sent me a fine close-up of this bird, taken yesterday when the light was better.


One of the Great Crested Grebe chicks was scratching its ear under the bridge. They are still being fed by their parents.


One of this year's young Mute Swans has an unusually dark head.


It isn't as dark as a Black Swan cygnet, but our Black Swan was hanging around it anyway. This close-up is also by David.


The Grey Heron at the Lido restaurant, now completely adult in appearance, is spending most of its time in this place between two floating baskets of plants. It's looking for fish as they swim between one basket and another, forgetting that the pair of legs in between means death from above.


A Carrion Crow finishing off a pigeon killed by the notorious gull didn't want any other crows sharing his meal.


The Mistle Thrushes in the rowan tree on Buck Hill ...


... were joined by a party of Starlings.


There was a loud twittering of Goldfinches from a nearby tree. It turned out to come from just two Goldfinches, and four Starlings accurately mimicking them.


A long line of Starlings enjoyed a communal bath at the Lido restaurant. But they dry themselves separately, as they don't want the others shaking water on to them.


A Jay was digging in a patch of newly strimmed scrub near the Italian Garden. It came up with an earthy thing attached to a leaf, evidently a nut it had buried earlier. It seemed a bit early in the year for Jays to start retrieving their caches.


Both of the pair on Nuthatches in the leaf yard waited in the shadow of the bushes for pine nuts to be put on the railings for them.

2 comments:

  1. Starlings were the bane of my existence when I first tried to learn to identify birds by their song. I would hear an exciting song, go ahead thinking it was any interesting bird, and the culable starling would come out in plain sight for what I suppose were mocking purposes.

    The Little Grebe looks like a lovely little buoy. Please tell me that they are too fast and agile to be caught by any gull?

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    Replies
    1. A Little Grebe is safe from gulls. But they do get taken by owls on their night-time journeys.

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