Kensington Gardens and the new owls on the block

 

Firstly I must apologise for the complete lack of blog posts from last weekend. I was recovering from a nasty cold (or Man-flu or Wine-flu), and really didn't feel up to traipsing about.

 

Today however, I was raring to get back out with my camera. All week I had been watching the weather forecast for the weekend and planning where to go. My mind was made up for me after reading Ralph Hancocks daily blog post (link to blog post here) from yesterday.

Part of my routine when leaving work each evening is to read Ralphs blog on the bus journey home. I know I've said this before, but it is so great to read a blog post that concentrates on the same patch daily. Anyway, to put it in a nutshell, there are now at least three pairs of Little Owls at Kensington Gardens. The usual pair near the Leaf Litter yard, the pair near the Albert Memorial and a new pair that have been seen near the Henry Moore statue. Ralph managed to photograph a Little Owl at all three sites yesterday. That was inspiration enough for me.

 

I've already got photos of the Leaf Litter and Albert Memorial pair, so todays mission was to see the new owls on the block. The Henry Moore birds.

 

And for once, I didn't fail.....

 

Following Ralphs instructions on where to see the owls, I found the relevant trees.

And standing out like a sore thumb was one Little Owl sitting boldly in the crook of two forked branches...

He/she didn't flinch as I stumbled around the area trying to find the best view for a photo. In fact I got the impression I was more of a curiosity to him/her than he'she was for me !

 

So the next five photos are of the same Little Owl, but taken at different angles....

 

 

There are three trees here that make a triangle. It wasn't until I had walked all the way around all of them, that I saw another Little Owl in one of the other trees. This owl was much more active and I stopped my stalking until I was absolutely sure it wasn't me that was making it agitated.

 Luckily it wasn't me, but was in fact another bird......whose id I will disclose shortly.....

 

So the next seven photos are of Little Owl number two. The whole time I took these pics, the first Little Owl stayed in the crook of the two forked branches on the first tree. This tree was behind that, and is the one nearest to the Henry Moore statue.....

 

 

So what was making the second Little Owl so active ?

It was a Green Woodpecker !

It had made its way up the trunk and the Little Owl was not happy. Compare the two photos below and you can see the size difference between the woodpecker and the owl - hardly anything in it.

 

 

The Little Owl won in the end though. The Green Woodpecker was soon chased off.

 

Of course I had to check the other two sites, the Leaf Litter and the Albert Memorial, but despite visiting several times during the day I didn't see Little Owls at either of those sites. But it was really nice to see the two new owls on the block.

 

On the Henry Moore statue itself, there were a pair of Egyptian Geese laying claim to their territory...

 

 

Further on up towards the Italian Gardens, a beautifully marked female Blackbird came out for a photo or two....

 

 

Near the bridge that divides Hyde Park from Kensington Gardens, there was a Great Crested Grebe constructing a nest. It was a bit hit and miss on trying to get photos through the branches, but I managed a couple...

 

 

Other birds finding the nesting urge included this Great Tit checking out a nestbox....

 

 

As always when I visit KG, I take bird food and spent a very pleasant few hours feeding the little 'uns. The Blue Tits are looking very smart in their colourful plumage now....

 

And you can always be sure of a good few portrait shots of Herons.....

 

 

I lingered around the Peter Pan statue after yesterdays report of a Firecrest seen in the area, but my attention was grabbed by one of my favourite ducks - the underestimated Gadwall.

Such intricate feather detail means they shouldn't be over looked, but they often are....

 

 

A pair of Mandarins were also taking advantage of the general public feeding bread (yuk) and gave me my first beautiful close ups of a duck I never get to see on my patch....

 

The mild weather today really caught me out. My gloves, snood and jumper were all stuffed in to my already packed rucksack before I'd even arrived at Kensington Gardens. Which in turn made carrying my rucksack somewhat hard work today.

However, my spirits were lifted on my walk back to Paddington train station when I spotted my first non-hibernating Ladybird of the year at Sussex Gardens...

 

 

A beautiful mild day out.

I achieved what I wanted, and my Fitbit states I walked over 18,000 steps today.

 And I even spotted my old friend Posh Boy.