It was grey and drizzly as I left home this morning for the short train journey to Lancaster Gate tube station. Laden down with three bags of mealworms, monkey nuts and suet pellets plus my camera equipment and binoculars, I was hoping the weather wouldn't mean poor visibility. On my last visit I couldn't locate the long staying Scaup so finding that elusive rare duck was number one on my hit list.
It was also Duncan's birthday today and I met up with him and his lovely wife, Aleks, by the Italian Gardens. I was hoping some others were going to join us today but they didn't or couldn't for various reasons, so it was just us three and enough bird food to feed a small bird army.
First bird of note spotted today was a solo Redwing by the Leaf Litter area.....
The Coal Tits were as predictable as ever and were one of the first birds on the scene when we got the bird food out....
We hand fed a few of the little birds but it was quite chilly when the wind picked up so we decided to grab a coffee and look for the Scaup en route to the café. We didn't find him, but we did spot a Grey Squirrel guarding it's drey...
Outside the café hormones were raging amongst the Coots. They were abundant in numbers and often squabbling amongst themselves. Some of the fights looked quite nasty.....
But that's what Coots do at this time of year. They squabble over mates, they squabble over food and they squabble over territories.
The next three pictures are for my Mum, who thinks all gulls look the same.
These are all Black-headed Gulls. The first is an adult in full summer plumage, the second is an adult just coming into summer plumage and the third is a 1st-winter bird (ie; it was born last year and has just lived through it's first winter season)....
After warming up with hot drinks and searching again for the Scaup, but to no avail, we made our way back to the Leaf Litter yard to feed some more birds. There were good numbers of Jays around today, sometimes chasing each other away, but often happy to sit in loose groups of five or six. They would often perch staring at you until you put a monkey nut on the railings....
I tried tempting one down to my hand by holding a nut in my fingers, and to all of our surprises a Jay did swoop down and take it. No photos, so Duncan done the same and I managed to grab the photo below. It's not a great one, but it'll do as proof that Jays will take nuts from your hand....
The other birds were much more reliable....
In fact they were so reliable, that Duncan changed his 500mm camera lens for a macro lens and started snapping away at the birds that were landing on his hand for food. Even when we walked up to the Tawny Owl's tree several Great and Blue Tits came with us....
I know Duncan got some fantastic close up shots and I'm looking forward to seeing them soon.
The male Tawny Owl was in his usual 'armchair' at the top of his tree. I was hoping he'd be on his 'balcony' around the back, purely because it makes for a better photo, but he seemed quite happy sitting out in the blustery drizzle.....
No sign of the female or any owlets yet but I was chatting to a RSPB volunteer later in the day, who said the Buckingham Palace Tawny Owls have already got young owlets out and about.
At the bottom of the male Tawny's tree a Starling was perched on it's nest hole....
After another scan of the Serpentine in search of the Scaup, Duncan and Aleks said their goodbyes to go further in to London for Duncan's birthday lunch.
Not long after that I was just about to give up my Scaup search when I saw it fly down from the Dell café area and land right in front of the reeds by the Diana Memorial. A short while later it emerged amongst a group of Tufted Ducks, which made for some great comparison shots.
The Scaup is slightly bigger than a male Tufted Duck, and now that its losing it's juvenile feathers you can see the beautiful intricate markings on its back....
He really is quite the stunner and will look even more gorgeous when he comes into full summer plumage. Twice today he looked to be getting quite friendly with a female Tufted Duck. It's not unknown for Scaups and Tuftys to mate, so maybe we'll get to see some interesting little ducklings later in the season.
So the day was not in ducking vain. I got my Scaup, Duncan the birthday boy got to hand feed a Jay and both Aleks and Duncan still made it to a boozy birthday lunch in central London.
Duncan also got a few snaps of me hand feeding the birds too and I'll put them on my next blog post.
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