Long-Tailed Tits' nest

A Long-Tailed Tits' nest by the leaf yard ...

... was a busy scene, with birds bringing feathers to line it ...

and pausing to preen.

Unfortunately the entrance is on the far side of the nest, so they can't be photographed going in or out.

A Robin was watching. It accepted some pine nuts.

This is probably its last year's nest, which would have been deep in the brambles but has been exposed by cutting them back.

The female Robin at Mount Gate was waiting to be fed. I don't know what she's eating in the last shot, not something I gave her.

Tom, Ahmet and I were trying to photograph the Cetti's Warbler at the Vista, which was occasionally visible but never in a place for a shot. However, here is a dramatic shot by Ahmet taken a couple of days ago when it was sunny.

A Wren hopped around in the undergrowth near the Henry Moore sculpture.

The Coal Tit pair in the Flower Walk followed me the whole way along, flying down to my hand for pine nuts whenever there was a gap in the stream of larger birds.

A Blue Tit was flitting around impatiently in the forsythia at Mount Gate.

Great Tits came out in the cherry blossom in the Rose Garden.

The Little Owl at the Ranger's Cottage looked down from the edge of his hole, though the light was so poor that it was impossible to get a picture to do him justice.

The male Peregrine was on the corner of the tower, not a place he usually goes. It gives him a view down two sides of the building in case an unwary Feral Pigeon should be passing below.

A Wood Pigeon was eating leaf buds in a tree beside the Serpentine. They are full of sweet sap and the birds are very keen on them, but don't eat enough to do much harm to the tree -- unlike Rose-Ringed Parakeets, a few of which can completely wreck it with their wasteful eating habits.

Parakeets were wandering around Buck Hill eating new dandelion leaves, and there was a Stock Dove among them which seemed to be doing the same, though the picture shows it holding a small white object.

A Cormorant caught a roach under the parapet of the Italian Garden.

A Grey Heron came in to land next to it, to the Cormorant's annoyance.

The Mandarin pair had come down from the Round Pond and could be seen at the Vista.

Owl on a dim day

On a chilly grey day it was a surprise to see the male Little Owl at the Ranger's Cottage out on the edge of his hole. This is on the shaded side of the tree and the dim light has reduced the colours in the picture almost to monochrome sepia.

There was a bit of colour at Mount Gate, where the local male Chaffinch perched in currant blossom ...

... and there was a Blue Tit in the forsythia.

Another Blue Tit perched on the Russian olive bush in the Rose Garden, undeterred by its ferocious spikes.

This bush, Elaeagnus angustifolia, is sometimes called 'oleaster', which is misleading as it is nothing to do with the unrelated true oleaster or wild olive, Olea oleaster, which was the source of the olive wreaths awarded to victors at the ancient Olympic Games.

A Coal Tit preferred a rose bush.

A Long-Tailed Tit near the Italian Garden turned round on a twig but its tail didn't, catching on a bud. The agile bird wasn't bothered by this, which must happen all the time.

A male Greenfinch perched in the top of an alder, a favourite tree with finches of all kinds which eat the seeds of its black fruits in winter when there aren't many insects.

A Jackdaw in a hawthorn below looked about to go supersonic.

A female Pied Wagtail was catching midges on the roof of the boat hire building. One sneaked past her.

A pair of Great Crested Grebes fished together under the edge of the platform. The male is on the left here, as you can see from his wider crest.

The second brood of two young Grey Herons on the island could be seen through myrobalan blossom. They are already almost fully grown, though it will be some time before they are independent.

The Black Swan chased off 4GIQ's Mute mate.

He has made a nest by the Diana fountain reed bed, and was trying to get her interested in it. She tolerates him but remains indifferent.

The undergrowth at the Triangle gave a pair of Mute Swans a selection of grasses and weeds to vary their diet.

The pair of Egyptian Geese from the Rose Garden were in the Dell, grazing under the big old pink magnolia tree.

The mothers at Fisherman's Keep ...

... and the Lido were sheltering their goslings, so it wasn't possible to count them.

A sadly thin and tatty fox with an injured hind leg limped across the path by the Henry Moore sculpture.

A wet day

Ten Egyptian goslings have appeared at the Lido on a rainy day.

They huddled under their mother to keep warm. There wasn't quite enough room for so many.

A pair of Pied Wagtails hunted along the edge. They always keep a certain distance apart to avoid collisions in their lightning-fast takeoff.

A closer look shows that this is a different pair from the familiar one, as their feet are in perfect condition.

A Coal Tit perched among hanging drops in the corkscrew hazel in the Dell.

Blue Tits seem to get wetter than Great Tits. One reason may be that they have a crest that they can put up, while Great Tits have a compact mass of little feathers on their head.

This Great Tit in the dogwood bush at Mount Gate was almost bone dry. It must have been staying in shelter.

The local male Robin was looking bedraggled in a holly tree.

A Blackbird, which had been singing happily on a higher twig, took flight.

Blackbirds like rain, which brings up worms. This one was hunting in a flower bed in the Rose Garden.

A Carrion Crow at Fisherman's Keep was slightly damp but eager for a peanut.

So were two Jays and a Magpie in a hawthorn by the Queen's Temple.

The male Peregrine on the barracks was looking miserable.

The Grey Heron the the west nest endured the conditions stoically.

The young ones in the other nests were hunkered down out of sight.

Pigeon Eater and his mate were waterproof and unaffected.

So was a Coot on the nesting basket at the Triangle, but it was still nattering crossly.

A Gadwall preened unconcernedly in the downpour. A bit of water on the feathers helps to get them smoothed.

One owl is enough

The male Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery looked down severely from the chestnut tree.

A Green Woodpecker probed for insects under a tree nearby ...

... and a Jay was expecting a peanut.

Jackdaws can turn up anywhere.

A Starling at the Lido restaurant had won a bit of pizza crust, which it took away to eat in private without the others trying to grab it.

I was trying to photograph a Chiffchaff when it launched itself into the air.

Blue Tits ...

... and Great Tits perched in cherry blossom in the Rose Garden.

A Long-Tailed Tit hunted in the bushes near Mount Gate ...

... where all three Robins were singing. This is the unattached one in the dogwood bush.

Two sets of two Grey Heron chicks on adjacent nests on the island set each other clattering.

Pigeon Eater's mate stepped in for her share of the latest kill as he went off to wash the blood from his face. He is very particular about his appearance.

A male Mute Swan was occupying the nest site at the edge of the Lido restaurant terrace. Nick the Wildlife Officer had put down some straw here. It isn't a good place, far too exposed, and has never succeeded. There's a floating nest basket nearby which the swans are completely ignoring.

The Black Swan and 4GIQ were under the small willow at the Triangle.

One pair of Egyptian Geese was along the road towards the boathouses, still with seven goslings ...

... and the other was at Fisherman's Keep, also still with seven.

On the gravel strip in the Long Water you could see Shoveller and Pochard drakes, a pair of Mallards, a Gadwall drake, and a female Tufted Duck out of focus in the foreground.

There were no exotic bees on the paperbushes in the Dell, but plenty of male Hairy-Footed Flower Bees. These greatly outnumber females.