Thursday 1 February 2018

A Redwing found a worm in the grass. Flocks of them come on to the bottom end of the Parade Ground after the Winter Wasteland is dismantled, and if the returfing operation is not too close they can be seen under the small trees, though usuallly rather distantly. A few Fieldfares my also be found here.


This picture and the next two are by Virginia: a fine action shot of an Egyptian Goose coming down on the water ...


... and a Gadwall in the evening sunshine. The red reflections are from the small brick boathouse on the Serpentine.


Here's a video by David Element of the female Little Owl at the Albert Memorial preening and fluffing up her feathers to keep warm on a cold day.


I can't wait to get back into the park on Saturday, and hope to see this lovely bird again.

David Element also sent these pictures of a Cormorant on the Long Water coming up with a beakful of algae, but this time it had missed the fish ...


... one of the Kensington Gardens Jackdaws looking for worms ...


... an extreme close-up of his favourite Robin, now so tame that it ignores having a camera stuck in its face ...


... and an adder, taken at a risky distance with a macro lens -- I wouldn't have dared.


Two more photographs from Spain by Tinúviel, this time taken in Galicia: a male Stonechat against the background of a stormy sea ...


... and Shags and Yellow-Legged Gulls on a rock.


Here's another puzzle picture from David Holland, taken in Cali, Colombia. It looks like an ant, but is in fact a wingless female wasp, as you can tell by its straight antennae -- ants have L-shaped antennae. Only a very serious entomologist would be able to identify it, as there are thousands of wasp species with wingless females.


This is the first picture I've taken since being confined indoors, last night's full moon unusually close to earth.

6 comments:

  1. That is such a lovely detailed picture of the moon. Everything turns magical through Ralph's lens.

    Oooh what a pretty, pretty close up of the Robin!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you. Sorry your earlier comment got stuck in the works. It does happen every few days. I always see them in Gmail, and put them back with the original commenter's name, but I was at a concert so there was a delay.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Was it any good? What was the programme like? I always like to read your writing about music.

      Delete
  3. Was the adder's photo taken in Kensington Gardens?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, it wasn't. David Element tells me it was on the North Downs. As far as I know, there are no adders in the park.

      Delete
  4. It was a concert performance of Handel's Orlando at St John's, Smith Square, a fine baroque structure of 1728 by Thomas Archer which is no longer a working church after it was bombed during the war, but has been well restored and is now used as a concert hall. It was a splendid performance by a group called La Nuova Musica, on 'authentic' instruments. Singers superb, especially Lucy Crowe, who sang the heroine Angelica in an appropriately green dress. Here is Rosemary Joshua in the same role singing one of the best arias, 'Verdi piante'. She is saying farewell to the beautiful grove where she first fell in love, as one does.

    ReplyDelete