Shiny Magpie

A sunny day brought out the beautiful iridescence of a Magpie's wings and tail as it collected a peanut at the Triangle.

A Carrion Crow enjoyed a quick dip in the Serpentine.

The Little Owl at the Round Pond liked the warmth, but sought a bit of shade to avoid dazzling her sensitive eyes.

The Robin on the north side of the Flower Walk was impatient at being photographed and not fed at once.

So was the usual Chaffinch on the other side of the path.

One of the three youngest Grey Herons flew into the Dell, the first time I've seen one of them here.

It's already fishing very well.

Pigeon Eater was on the restaurant roof, lying down as he digested his latest victim.

There were Cormorants on every available perch in the Long Water.

A Shoveller drake cruised past Peter Pan.

Canada Geese collected to drink from a puddle at the Triangle ...

... where a squirrel had found the remains of a fruit salad and was savouring a bit of mango.

The sunshine brought out late insects in the Rose Garden, and these three videos and the still picture were all taken in the same spot on the edge of the shrubbery.

A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee browsed on the flowers in an arbutus tree.

A Red Admiral butterfly on the ground below drank from flowers that had fallen off the tree but still contained nectar.

A rather battered Small White butterfly flitted about in a patch of lavender.

Plumbago flowers attracted a hoverfly, Eupeodes luniger. It has the clumsy English name of Common Spotted Field Sylph, which no one uses. 'Luniger' refers to the crescent moon shaped markings on its abdomen.

Migrant Hawker dragonflies are still whizzing about but I didn't get a picture.

Poplar Fieldcap mushrooms on the leaning Lombardy poplar at Peter Pan have now spread from the roots up the trunk, with the mycelium rotting the wood inside. 

No need to shout

A Robin sang gently in the corkscrew hazel bush in the Flower Walk. This stretch of the path is absolutely packed with Robins, and at 8 seconds you can hear another replying from the next bush.

There are at least 11 Robins in the section between Queen's Gate and the Albert Memorial, at this time of year all in individual territories.

A Blue Tit looked out of a bush.

This is the Coal Tit at the southwest corner of the bridge, which occasionally comes down for a pine nut when it sees the numerous Great Tits flocking in.

A Wren appeared for a moment in the brambles at the other end of the bridge. 

Encouraged by a mild day, the Little Owl at the Round Pond came out on an open branch for a change.

I haven't seen any Little Owls elsewhere for some time. The pair at the Serpentine Gallery didn't manage to breed because Carrion Crows nested in their tree, but they are still around and I heard one calling a few days ago. The pair by the Speke obelisk had to move when the old sweet chestnut tree they nested in died in the drought of 2022, and I don't know where they've gone. The dense brambles around the base of the tree are still there and Blackbirds nest in them every year.

There was a Jay in the Dell. You don't often see Jays in Hyde Park as they prefer the denser trees of Kensington Gardens.

A Wood Pigeon flapped around in a holly tree by the Rose Garden eating unripe berries. Some of the holly trees now have almost ripe fruit, but Wood Pigeons aren't fussy about these things.

The Grey Wagtail hunted along the edge of the Serpentine by the Triangle.

A Pied Wagtail perched on the roof of one of the small boathouses.

A Grey Heron was reflected in the stream of the Dell as it waited patiently for a fish to come within reach ...

... but a young one under the marble fountain in the Italian Garden looked bored.

The pair of Egyptian Geese shared an urn above it.

The Moorhens that nested in the reeds under the fountain have only one surviving chick, the others probably having been eaten by the large pike that lurk at this end of the lake. It's grown up now but the family is staying together.

A fox rested at the Dell.

The Common Wasps' nest at the Triangle is still busy. It's under a photinia bush and they seem to like the waxy leaves, possibly because they have honeydew from aphids on them.

Mysterious Magpie

A Magpie repeatedly went into the pool at the top of the Dell waterfall to wash its face, and only its face. It kept this up for more than three minutes, so this clip only shows a few visits. The washing behaviour of birds is mysterious, especially of corvids.

A young Herring Gull brought a sweet chestnut ashore and amused itself by throwing it around.

Another was playing with a feather.

The Little Owl at the Round Pond looked out between the fading leaves of the horse chestnut.

At the gate of the Rose Garden a Blue Tit was looking for insects in the lichen on a dead hawthorn.

Both the Great Tits were in the arbutus tree in the shrubbery, and kept coming out for pine nuts.

The male Chaffinch waited on the ground below. He has a mate, but she is much shyer and seldom seen.

Milder weather brought out insects. A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee browsed on the arbutus flowers. The tree has flowers and fruit at the same time, because the fruit takes a year to ripoen.

Another was working over a patch of plumbago underneath ...

... and Common Wasps were emerging from a nest in the undergrowth.

A Honeybee was busy on an oxeye daisy in the border.

A Feral Pigeon drank from a small and muddy puddle. Pigeons are the only birds that can drink continuously rather than taking a beakful and throwing their head back to tip it down their throat. I think they can roll their tongue against the inside of their bill to make a kind of drinking straw.

The Robins on the north and south sides of the Flower Walk came out at the same time and nearly collided on my hand. They sometimes squabble in the middle of the path which marks the frontier of their territories. This is the north Robin which has replaced the familiar old tatty one.

A young Grey Heron stood on the head of a nymph in the Italian Garden. The poor girl is badly eroded by 164 years of London air.

The small willow tree on the corner of the Triangle is a popular lookout point for herons.

The number of Shovellers on the Long Water is rising slowly, and there are at least a dozen now.

But fifteen years ago we routinely got 50 each winter, and once there were over 200. Probably the reduction of these, as well as of other minority ducks, is due to the opening of the Wetland Centre and other riverside reserves, which privide a more attractive location. But it's odd that we are getting more and more Common Pochards.

Blackbirds in the yew

Three Blackbirds were climbing around in the yew tree at the corner of the Dell eating the fruit.

A Robin sang in the Rose Garden shrubbery.

The Robin that lives in the yew hedge in the Flower Walk came out on top and gave warning calls, first because it could see a Magpie and then because it could hear another Robin singing and was telling it not to take any liberties.

I'm constantly surprised by how the familiar male Chaffinch can spot me from a distance. I was coming through the trees on my way back home from the Round Pond and was at least 75 yards away from the Flower Walk when I saw it take up a position in the hedge to apply for a pine nut. Then it followed me to collect several.

The Little Owl at the Round Pond didn't like the chilly drizzly day and stayed in her hole.

A flock of Long-Tailed Tits flitted through the surrounding trees.

A pair of Jackdaws picked me up at the bridge and followed me along the edge of the Serpentine, politely requesting peanuts. You can't say no to one of these charming birds.

The Grey Wagtail was at the Lido examining a fallen pigeon feather.

The dominant Black-Headed Gull stood on the Big Bird statue keeping an eye on the landing stage. If any other bird had landed on it he would have been down in a flash.

Pigeon Eater was away from his station, and the odd-coloured Lesser Black-Back with pale eyes had taken his place on the roof. I haven't yet seen a confrontation between these two, but I think Pigeon Eater still has the upper hand.

The three young Grey Herons huddled in the lower nest, which is more sheltered from the wind than the one where they were brought up. They've never seen autumn before and take a poor view of it.

There was a full house of Cormorants on the posts at the island, and one had to balance on the chain and another to stand on a boat.

A pair of Great Crested Grebes rested peacefully on the Serpentine, but then they saw another grebe straying on to their patch and hurried off to expel it. The intruder left quietly without the need for a full threat display.

A Greylag Goose chewed bark off a fallen twig.

The Egyptians from the Italian Garden drank from a puddle. No birds seem to like the water in the lake and they will always choose a puddle if there is one, however muddy the water.

A Gadwall drake preened a wing. Their plain grey plumage is relieved by a touch of ginger on the wing coverts.