The Long Water swans assert themselves

For several days a pair of Canada Geese has occupied the nesting island in the Long Water made for the use of the Mute Swan pair.

The swans seemed not to be interested, preferring a nest site on the bank in a bad place exposed to fox attack. But now things have changed, and the swans wanted their island. The geese put up a surprising resistance but it was no use: off they had to go.

The Black Swan has made a nest in the reeds by the Diana fountain, hoping to get his Mute girlfriend on to it. He preened unconcernedly while a pair of Coots mated in front of him.

The Mute pair 4FYY and 4FUF were preening in front of their nest site in the scrub east of the Lido.

The Coots nesting in the reed bed under the Italian Garden can't stop adding to it.

A year-old Grey Heron was using the fallen poplar at Peter Pan as a fishing station.

The young ones in the second nest on the island had been fed and were quiet for once.

The heron which hangs around the Lido restuarant knows that if it walks up and down the edge looking hopeful someone is bound to throw it a scrap.

A Starling on an umbrella looked at a passing midge, but decided that it could get a better meal by raiding a table.

Magpies bathed at the end of the terrace, and one dried itself on the railings.

A Magpie hauled a paper bag out of a bin and started to tear it up to make a lining for its nest.

A Carrion Crow looked down from the Big Bird statue.

The Little Owl was enjoying the sunshine on the chestnut tree by the Serpentine Gallery.

Chiffchaffs were singing around the Long Water.

A Long-Tailed Tit by the leaf yard paused before flying down to its nest in the brambles.

A Coal Tit at Mount Gate was dwarfed by the huge leaves of the Magnolia grandiflora.

A Great Tit waited in the forsythia bush. It's easy to overlook the beauty of these very common birds.

The cercis blossoms in the Rose Garden continue to emerge slowly, making a background for a Blue Tit.

Little Owl keeping warm

Sunshine brought out the Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery. It was slightly chilly, so he was fluffed up to keep warm.

So was the single Robin at Mount Gate.

A Blue Tit posed in an osmanthus bush in the Dell ...

... and there were more in the cercis in the Rose Garden.

A Coal Tit appeared for a moment in a tree by the gate, and I got just one shot before it flew off.

It was feeding time for the three younger Grey Heron chicks on the island and they were flapping about frantically.

You don't usually see a heron swimming, but this one was lured out from the island by someone throwing prawns to it. Evidently this has happened before, because the heron was most enthusiastic about snatching them.

A Great Crested Grebe rested in the still water.

The grebes nesting in the reeds on the Long Water were adding some twigs and algae to their soggy nest. These ill-made constructions keep sinking and have to be built up regularly to keep them in existence. It hasn't occurred to the grebes that they could make a much better nest from reeds, as Coots do and indeed grebes do in places like the Norfolk Broads where reeds are the only availabel material.

The Coots nesting at the bridge now have at least four eggs. Probably more are on the way.

The Coot on the post at Peter Pan ignored a Cormorant ominously above it.

The Egyptian Geese with the six oldest goslings had crossed the lake and were at the boat hire platform.

The pair with seven at the Lido took them to feed on the grass at the back.

Most of the wallflowers in the Rose Garden are now too withered for bees, and this Hairy-Footed Flower Bee had moved to the pansies.

A Dark-Edged Bee Fly, Bombylius major, preferred a grape hyacinth. This is the first one of these sinister parasitic flies I've seen this year.

Another first for the year: a Common Wasp at the southwest corner of the bridge. It was scraping bits off a bramble stem, evidently intending to build a paper nest.

The first cowslips are coming up here.

Participants in a charity walk in the park were spurred on their way by the Voodoo Brass Band. The large brass instrument is a sousaphone, created for the 19th century American composer John Philip Sousa for use in marching bands. It is curved around the body of the player to keep him from knocking over the marcher next to him.

Blackcap

Blackcaps have been singing around the Long Water for several days, but stayed hidden in the bushes. Today a male consented to come out in a treetop by Temple Gate.

A Long-Tailed Tit preened on a twig above its nest by the leaf yard.

The Coal Tit pair at Mount Gate came out for pine nuts ...

... and the Blue Tits were waiting too.

A Robin sang by the Serpentine Gallery, not one of my regular customers but it came down for pine nuts on the ground.

A Starling at the Lido restaurant was enjoying a chip.

A Green Woodpecker uttered its sarcastic laugh from a lime tree on Buck Hill.

A Carrion Crow collected bits of dead grass to line its nest in a tree near the Dell.

Pigeon Eater, whom I hadn't seen for several days, was with his mate in their usual place at the Dell restaurant.

A Cormorant at Peter Pan jumped on to a post ...

... and landed short, but managed to flap its way up.

The Little Grebes were on the far side of the Vista, but I didn't manage to get both of them in the same shot.

The dominant Mute Swan and his mate had come on to the Serpentine, and he was showing off to her by chasing another male.

The Black Swan was with 4GIQ and was keeping her proper mate at bay. I am sorry to say that she was also raising her wings in defiance. She is a shameless hussy.

The six Egyptian goslings at Fisherman's Keep are growing fast. They huddled and fidgeted in a heap against a chilly wind until their parents called them over to the grass.

As I was writing the blog I heard that one of the parents had attacked and injured a Grey Heron that had come too close to the goslings. The bird rescue group are trying to get the heron and attend to it.

They have been pressuring the management to at least put up notices about people letting their dogs run free around the lake, and have sent them some horrifying pictures of swans and geese injured by dog attacks, which are sadly frequent. They have finally got some results. But the risk of anyone being prosecuted is almost zero, as we no longer have the Royal Parks police.

The only bees visible in the Rose Garden were male Hairy-Footed Flower Bees. One fed on a pink hyacinth.

The Royal College of Art is right next to the park -- it's that hideous black building that spoils the view on the west side of the Albert Hall. Students often come into the park to photograph their efforts, and today on buck Hill there was a display of what looked like entrails hung on a pole.

Goldcrests

A mild sunny day started the Goldcrests singing, making them easier to find than usual with these tiny elusive birds. This one was in a pittosporum bush in the Dell ...

... and this one in a yew at Mount Gate.

Ahmet Amerikali was in Battersea Park and found a Firecrest.

The Coal Tit pair at Mount Gate were chasing each other through a holly tree ...

... and the usual male Chaffinch was waiting on the next tree.

A little ornamental conifer in a flower bed in the Rose Garden made a perch for a Blue Tit ...

... and a Wren.

The Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was there when I came into the park, by one of the holes in the hollow old chestnut ...

... and as I went home I saw him again on a higher branch, and he was well worth a second picture.

The sunshine brought people to the terrace of the Lido restaurant, and Starlings waited on an umbrella for their chance to grab scraps.

A Grey Wagtail was hunting midges from a post at the bridge ...

... where the Coots were having several tries at fitting a twig into their already large nest.

The dominant Mute Swan and his mate's neglect of the nesting island in the Long Water has allowed in a pair of Canada Geese ...

... but on the Serpentine two pairs of swans had their eyes on the nest site behind the railings at the boathouse.

A pair of Egyptian Geese at the Triangle enjoyed a brisk wash.

The pair at the Lido still have eight goslings.

There were several Yellow-Legged Mining Bees in the Rose Garden again. When not browsing on flowers they seem to like heuchera leaves as a place to rest. I also saw this yesterday. Maybe the yellow colour attracts them, as they were also choosing yellow wallflowers.

A Common Drone Fly, Eristalis tenax, hovered in front of a black sports bag. If there had been anything else in the background I couldn't have got the picture.