Richmond Park
Common Tern: I thought I would check to see if the terns did depart yesterday. There were at least 6 birds present 4 adults and two juvs. There could have been other young back on the rafts but I was more engrossed in the behaviour of these birds. The parents of the 2 juvs were trying to stop the other pair from feeding them. It is likely that they were failed breeder, possibly the parents of the first young to fledge on the ponds. I say this as I haven’t seen more than 2 juvs on the lake at one time. If anyone knows more about the first brood it would be nice to know.
Kingfisher: a pair was present on the two ponds, one fishing by the reed bed, another bird flew over Lower Pen Ponds.
The two juveniles
One parent fends off the approaching bird.
However when the young flew from Lower PP to Upper PP one tried to cease the opportunity and feed one of them. One of the parents wasn’t going to let that happen.
It is not often that you see a tern sat on the water.
I am not sure what these grebes feed on but it must be very close to the surface as they spend a lot of their time snorkelling (heads just below the surface).
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