More from Mum's garden.....

Yesterday whilst in the kitchen making Mum's tea, I noticed a Goldfinch all alone, perched very near to the conservatory door. I took my chances and opened the door very quietly and fired off a couple of photos. The bird didn't move....

 

 

An hour or so later I noticed it was now sitting on the edge of one of the pots. Fearing the bird was ill, I took a couple more photos and approached slowly....

 

and thankfully it flew away. I later saw it again on the feeders and then in the stream having a drink, so I don't think there's anything wrong with it, it was just fluffed up and conserving energy...

 

Mum's next door neighbour often gets Greenfinches in her garden, but for some bizarre reason they are quite rare in Mum's garden, but one did venture over the fence to share the nyger seeds with some Goldfnches...

 

 

Along with the visiting Coal Tit featured on my last blog post, I keep getting a tantalising glimpse of a Redpoll. It's not as confiding as the Coal Tit, and getting a photo has been very challenging. Eventually I got a dark distant shot....

 

This afternoon Mum had some visitors which meant I could escape for a walk for an hour. After the horrendous storm that swept through at lunchtime, the afternoon was full of sun and blue skies.

 

I didn't walk too far, only to the local church, St Marys, but could immediately hear the chattering of Fieldfares within the trees. I located a few flying in and out of a yew tree, found myself a bench nearby to observe them from and waited patiently for a photo opportunity. In amongst the Fieldfares were a few Redwings, so a bonus for me to get two winter thrushes in one afternoon. Unfortunately I wasn't the only one observing them as a Sparrowhawk flew over my head straight in to the tree and all the thrushes scattered. No photos of any of the Fieldfares or Redwings, and just a bad shot of a departing Sparrowhawk....

 

 

Walking back towards London Gate I saw the familiar silhouette of a Red Kite and managed to fire off two shots as the bird passed by low...

 

By one of the stiles overlooking the farm land another familiar sight of a Common Buzzard being mobbed by crows came in to view...

 

 

It shook off the crows and headed for a small copse of trees....

 

Just as I started to slowly move around the edge of the field, hiding my silhouette against the hedgerow and heading towards the copse, the Buzzard took off again....

 

Obviously my Buzzard-stalking skills need to be refined.

 

But it was nice to be out and about even if it was for just an hour.

Back to garden bird watching for the next few days.

Two nice surprises from Mum's garden

My next few blog posts will be from my Mum's garden. After a very intense operation and a long eleven day stay in hospital, she is now at home with strict orders for her to rest.

 

Mum's garden has often been good for wildlife. Regular readers will remember last year when I photographed Great Spotted Woodpeckers, House Sparrows, Chaffinches, Greenfinches, Goldfinches, Red Kites, Buzzards, Frogs, a Kestrel, a Grass Snake, the disappearing view of a Muntjac deer and much more.

 

Today though, I wasn't quite prepared to find my first wildlife surprise not in the garden but in Mum's kitchen !

 

I had pulled out the dustpan and brush after sweeping Mum's kitchen floor, when a tiny and very still Common Newt fell out of the pan......

 

 

It was lifeless, cold and almost certainly dead.

 

Not quite knowing what to do with the poor thing, I gently picked it up and placed it on a large stone in Mum's back garden....

 

But it was very still, and it really didn't look too good.

 

But then it stated to slowly move......

 

the little Newt was alive....

I sat on the step with my camera, and gave the Newt some space, and eventually it's movements got quicker and it started to explore the stone and plants I had placed it on......

 

and eventually it made it's way under the stone never to be seen again.

The pot below is where I left it, and hopefully it will spend the next few months in quiet undisturbed hibernation there.

 

 

Later in the day I was sitting in the conservatory watching the usual Blue and Great Tits flitting around the feeders, when I noticed a solo Coal Tit amongst them. I've not seen one in Mum's garden before so was quite excited to add it to the list of sightings.

 

 Unfortunately my only photos of this lovely little bird, were taken through glass, but it was nice to get such good views when it landed for a drink right in front of the doors.....

 

 

So a nice first day from Marks Mansion.

It will be interesting to see what the next few days turn up.

Kensington Gardens more unusual birds

Be warned - todays blog post is a long one - I have plenty to write about......

 

Today I set out to do what I intended to do last Saturday....visit Kensington Gardens then make my way to Paddington to see my lovely Mum who is enduring a spell in hospital. It didn't happen last weekend as I had a touch of man-flu and it didn't happen yesterday due to the awful weather. So today was the day....

 

Here is a link to an interactive map of Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park so anyone can see where I've been, when I mention the local landmarks in my wafflings below....

 

There are two yew trees not far from the Italian Gardens a long the Long Water. In the shady one there was a Song Thrush feeding....

 



 

and in the other one there was a Grey Squirrel feeding......

 

By the Peter Pan statue I watched a Cormorant launch itself almost vertically out of the water to land on one of the many posts.....

 

and then watched a nearer one do the same thing from a length of chain.....

 

The posts aren't just well used by Cormorants and the many gulls, this female Mallard was having a good preening session on another post.....

 

There is an area called the Leaf Litter yard where many small birds are so tame they will come to your hand to feed. It's not marked on the above interactive map, but it's along the path between the Peter Pan statue and the Physical Energy statue. In roughly the same area are a couple of Horse Chestnut trees where you can normally spot the resident pair of Little Owls. I could only find one today, the male, who was perched on the very same branch that I saw him perched on during my last visit.....

He eyed me with mild curiosity as I scuffled around the tree trying to get the best photo.....

 

Just a few days ago a family member told me how much her daughter loved Ring-necked Parakeets, and wanted one for a pet. Well I cant buy her one, but a visit to Kensington Gardens provides you with the next best thing - hand feeding them. I fed several today. A couple of years ago only the odd one would dare settle on your hand for a peanut and would often accidently nip you too. Now there are several who will happily come down for some food and have learnt to become very gentle.

 

I know they are not everyone's cup of tea, but here is a photo of one just for my little cousin Lexi......and hopefully it wont be too long before Lexi and her mum, brothers and sister can visit the park themselves.....

 

Another RN Parakeet seemed to be happily content with picking the paint off the railings.....

 

I'm a regular reader of Ralph Hancocks excellent daily blog posts from the park (link to Ralph's blog) and have been following with interest, his sightings and story about the new visitor, a Black Swan.

So when I bumped into Ralph in the Leaf Litter area, I asked where was the place it most preferred and  Ralph kindly agreed to show me.

Walking with Ralph is a bit like walking with the Pied Piper of Hamlin. But its not rats that followed us, but birds.

 Birds recognise him from a distance and we were 'accosted' and followed by several on our way to the Serpentine Bar area where the Black Swan seems to be frequently seen.

Amongst the birds who flew down to see Ralph were a pair of Jackdaws by the Lido Café. These clever members of the Corvus family, have learnt how to shell a monkey nut......

 

Just before the Serpentine Bar we saw at least four Great Crested Grebes. Three were fairly distant and looked to be adults in various shades of yearly plumage, and one teenager gave us a nice view as it swam past. It still has some of the striped 'humbug' juvenile markings....

 

 

After a little bit of  'to-ing and fro-ing' we eventually found the Black Swan.

I rarely take photos of captive non-native birds, but this Swan has a bit of a tale behind it.

It's certainly not native, Black Swans originate from Australia, so it's more than likely an escapee or 'fence hopper' from another Royal Park or private collection. Therefore it cant be classed as 'captive' either. It's not tagged nor ringed and hasn't had it's wing feathers pinioned.

 

It is a stunning looking bird.

According to Ralph's observations, when this one first appeared he was very aggressive towards the resident Mute Swans and despite being smaller than them, he would chase them off and posture threateningly at them.

But over a few days it developed an unlikely friendship with a juvenile Mute Swan, who being just a teenager, hasn't yet developed the snowy white feathers or orange beak of an adult.

This was what intrigued me and why I had to see this unlikely partnership for myself.

The juvenile Mute Swan, who we now call the Black Swan's girlfriend, has just a small patch of white feathers on her back.

 

but is behaving more and more like her boyfriend, the Black Swan, every day. Below the pair are seeing off an adult Mute Swan.....

 

 

and both have the same head posture.

It was really fascinating to watch both birds behaviour. Ralph said that when people are feeding the birds, all the other Mute Swans give the Black Swan a wide berth.

It will be interesting to see if the Black Swan stays at the park, and if he does, how will he react to his girlfriend when she starts to moult into adulthood.

 

Another little beauty at that end of the Serpentine is a pure white male Mallard....

 

He was happily mixing with the other Mallards, both male and female.

 

Another 'unusual' bird is this Canada x Greylag goose.....

 

 

This is one of four from the same family that Ralph has watched grow up, and it's life-long partner is a pure Greylag.

 

I made my way back to the Lido Café for a much needed coffee whilst Ralph continued his walk around the Serpentine. By the café this little beauty was mingling with the feral pigeons...

 

Just under the bridge walking back along the Long Water there is a patch of scrub where Ralph had earlier been 'accosted' by a few Great Tits asking for food. I hang around there for a while as I could hear Goldcrests but couldn't see them. The Blue Tits, Great Tits and a pair of Coal Tits happily came down to the railings to collect the suet pellets I laid out for them. Trying to get a photo in the overcast conditions was a little challenging but I managed a couple...

 

 

A Treecreeper then appeared. There is something almost mouse-like about these fast moving birds as they scuttle up a tree. It's very hard to capture one that stays still, so please excuse my blurred images.....

 

Back at the Leaf Litter area there was a Jay looking to see if I had any monkey nuts, but I only had suet pellets so it soon flew off....

 

 

On my way out of the park I stopped again at the Peter Pan statue to watch some nearby Shovellers doing what they do best - shovelling.....

 

and in the Italian Gardens, another 'oddity' came along in the form of a pair of Egyptian Geese. One had all the usual markings with the brown eye rings, but its partner was almost entirely 'blond'.

 

By reading Ralphs daily blogs I know these are a resident pair.

 

So it was a successful visit, despite the sun failing to come out from the heavy cloud cover.

Seeing Ralph is always a bonus when I visit the park. His outstanding local knowledge is a credit for anyone who visits his blog or the park. He really is a true 'patch birder'.

 

My day ended on an even bigger high after visiting my Mum in hospital. Her long road to recovery is only just starting but it was great to see she is certainly recovering well. Love you Mum xxx