Yet more little Egyptians

A warm sunny day brought a lot of people into the park, and that's never good for seeing birds. In particular the Little Owls, which ought to have been out enjoying the sunshine, were all staying stubbornly in their holes despite two visits to each of the three places.

But a Robin was singing in a bush in the Rose Garden.

One of the other pair here was waiting in a small hawthorn for its daily treat of pine nuts.

A pair of Blue Tits here are now quite hard to photograph, as they rush out of the tree and flutter around you in their eagerness to be fed.

The Robins at Mount Gate were also insistent.

The familiar male Chaffinch in Kensington Gardens was on the east side of the Long Water, the first time he's found me there.

Another Chaffinch was singing in a tree by the Buck Hill shelter ...

... and there was a male Greenfinch just along the path.

The Grey Heron that hangs around the Kensington Gardens side of the bridge now has a mate, and they were in the top of a variegated holly tree. I only arrived as one flew out, so I didn't get a picture of them together. A few years ago herons built a nest here in the top of a Chinese privet tree, but it never came to anything.

On the other hand, the heronry on the Serpentine island is booming. There's still a sitting bird on the fourth nest. This nest is really too small and will be badly overcrowded if they can produce chicks.

One of the three young herons in the third nest stood up. They are almost fully grown now.

A parent stood in the nest below, craning round to preen the underside of its wing.

This young heron on the island must be from the first nest, as it's quite neat looking -- the three from the second nest are still very shaggy.

Coots have built a nest on the chain at the west end of the island, and decorated it with a horrible old plastic bag.

The dominant Mute Swan on the Long Water may be a ruthless killer but he is also devoted to his mate and will be an attentive father when her eggs hatch.

There is yet another brood of seven Egyptian goslings on the Serpentine. They were by the Triangle.

Nearer the island, the previous brood is now down to five. There are not all that many Herring Gulls on the lake at the moment, so there is a chance for them. 

Two butterflies in the Flower Walk, a Red Admiral and a Speckled Wood, managed to cling on to ivy leaves as they were blown about in the wind.

A Honeybee browsed on a ceanothus.

Blackbird calling his mate

A male Blackbird in the Dell called to his mate, who was over on the other side of the enclosure. He continued for a minute after I stopped filming, and as I left I saw her flying over.

One of the Coal Tits arrived to take a pine nut.

Wrens were singing everywhere. This one was in the Flower Walk ...

... and another was on a tree by the Buck Hill shelter ...

... with a Chiffchaff right at the top.

A male Greenfinch sings constatntly in a hawthorn tree north of Peter Pan. He's usually hard to see in the twigs, but Ahmet Amerikali got a good shot of him.

Ahmet also photographed a Firecrest in Battersea Park ...

... along with a Goldcrest.

He saw two Firecrests fighting, locked together in midair and letting go only as both were about to fall to the ground.

The female Little Owl was in her chestnut tree by the Serpentine Gallery. It looks as if they have a good chance of nesting this year, as the Carrion Crows seem to have lost interest in the nest in this tree and, as we have seen, they can chase off the Stock Doves.

Seeing this owl in isolation I would have taken her for a male, as she is quite small with big eyebrows. But the male is even smaller and his eyebrows are immense.

The Grey Herons in the west nest, who have been very vague about starting to breed, were more enthusiastic today and were displaying to each other.

The female Mute Swan of the island pair was ashore. The nest is behind the tree on the left.

Six new Egyptian goslings have just come out on the Serpentine. Their father, on the right, was guarding the family closely and wouldn't let another Egyptian near them.

The last gosling from the first brood is growing rapidly. Every day improves its chances of survival.

A pair of Shovellers dabbled and revolved at the waterfront by Peter Pan.

It was the turn of the female Mallard in the fountain to take a rest in the irises ...

... while the Gadwall and Mallard drakes were feeding amicably together. There seems to be no jealousy in this trio although the female visibly prefers the Gadwall.

There are a lot of Hairy-Footed Flower Bees. This female was on a Crown Imperial in the Italian Garden ...

... and there was another on the currant bush at Mount Gate.

Blackbird at work

A female Blackbird behind the Queen's Temple caught a worm easily, then dug frantically in the leaf litter. She seemed to be getting something: maybe she had found an ants' nest.

A Robin watched from a branch.

A Coal Tit sang loudly in a tree near the Serpentine Gallery.

A Chiffchaff often sings by the leaf yard, usually at the top of a tall tree. But it came down for a moment and Ahmet Amerikali got a fine close-up picture of it.

He also saw a male Blackcap singing near Peter Pan ...

... and the Blue Tit at the foot of Buck Hill, which dashed into its nest hole carrying a feather, so he waited for it to come out and got it then.

A Starling shone in the sunlight on the edge of the Serpentine.

A female Magpie by the bridge fluttered her wings and called plaintively to her mate on a branch below, who was eating a peanut. He did fly up to give her a bit.

The two young Grey Herons from the first nest on the Serpentine island are now exploring the park, and were standing on the gravel strip in the Long Water.

It does look as if the heron on the new nest has eggs. It was sitting when I arrived ...

... then got up and poked in the bottom of the nest as if turning eggs ...

... and sat down again.

A heron at the boathouse watched as a Coot investigated a clump of sprouts thrown into the lake as part of the Nowruz festival, the Zoroastrians' celebration of their New Year at the spring solstice. The Coot didn't like them and soon went away.

The Coots on the Serpentine side of the bridge were busy building up their nest. The one in the nest hadn't finished arranging a twig when its mate came back with a leaf.

On the other side of the bridge a pair of Great Crested Grebes were building a nest under a branch of the collapsed weeping willow.

In the Italian Garden fountains, the Gadwall drake who is the dominant male in the odd trio was having a rest and the female Mallard was hungry, so she joined the Mallard drake in dabbling for food.

The single Egyptian gosling on the Serpentine had eluded the hungry Herring Gulls for another day.

A female Hairy-Footed Flower Bee climbed into a minature narcissus in the Rose Garden border ...

... and a worker Honeybee collected pollen from a grape hyacinth.

Little Owl on the warpath

Although it was a sunny day there was quite a strong wind, and I didn't expect to see a Little Owl. But as I went past the old sweet chestnut tree near the Serpentine there was a pair of Stock Doves flapping around and suddenly something brown shot out of a hole and attacked them. It was the female owl. She stood above the hole looking pleased with herself.

The young male Chaffinch who has appeared recently in Kensington Gardens ...

... was with the female in the Flower Walk and there was no sign of the old male. He is in a sad state with feet badly infected with the virus, and she may have deserted him in favour of a healthy young mate.

A Goldfinch looked down from a treetop behind the Queen's Temple ...

... and a Long-Tailed Tit perched on a lower twig.

A Great Tit waited in a camellia bush in the Flower Walk.

A Wren in the bushes by the Henry Moore sculpture stayed still for long enough to have its picture taken.

The Robins on the north edge of the Rose Garden are not yet on such intimate terms as the pair in the middle which I photographed yesterday. They are still at the stage where one stays in a bush ...

... while the other is on the ground, but at least they're tolerating each other.

Two Grey Herons uncomfortably close together on the gravel strip in the Long Water eyed each other with suspicion.

The three young herons from the second nest on the island were wandering around on the shore. They are still returning to the nest to be fed, but will soon have to find their own food.

There are now two Coot nests at the Mute Swans' nesting island on the Long Water.

A pair of swans were courting on the edge of the Serpentine.

The Egyptian Goose and her last gosling rested on the shore.

The Mandarins cruised past the island.

A Gadwall pair cropped algae at the edge. It's pleasing that we now seem to we now have a permanent population of these quiet well behaved ducks.

Two irresponsible dog owners arrived at the Vista at the same time and encouraged eight dogs to go into the water, scaring away the dark Mallard drake who had been feeding at the edge.

Sunshine showed off the carp in the Dell stream. They have a small world, bounded at one end by the small waterfall and at the other end by the grille where the stream goes underground on its way to the Thames just upstream of Chelsea Bridge.