Cygnets out on the water

Every year several Starlings nest in the eaves of the Buck Hill shelter. They were flying in and out bringing insects and larvae to their young.

The young Starlings at the back of the Lido are out already, chasing their parents through the trees.

A female Great Tit came out of a nest in a drain hole in the stonework of the Queen's Temple. The pair have had the good sense to nest on top of the drainpipe, so they won't get washed away when it rains.

A male Blackcap perched in a tree behind the temple.

The Coal Tit which we now know is the male of the pair was waiting in a tree in the Dell.

A female Blackbird could be seen in the leaf yard.

The old male Chaffinch in the Flower Walk is still getting around, and as always eager for pine nuts.

There was a young female with him. I haven't seen her before, but she accepted a pine nut.

The Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was just visible in a lime tree. I've been carelessly assuming that there was a lone male here, as I have seen no evidence at all of a pair. But this owl looks very female, round and with fairly small eyebrows. This needs watching.

Ahmet Amerikali got a good shot of a Reed Warbler  collecting nesting material in the reeds by the Diana fountain ...

... and a horrifying picture of a Jay snatching a young Great Tit.

The Coots evicted from the raft by the Black Swan have stubbornly returned and were beginning to lay twigs for a new nest.

They mated defiantly on the raft.

The Mute Swan from the nest by the Serpentine outflow guided her five cygnets across the lake. There were originally six, but a Herring Gull or a Grey Heron has taken one already.

The pair nesting on the gravel strip on the Long Water had a pair of Canada Geese right next to them, but everything was peaceful for the time being.

The Egyptian Geese near the Triangle still had eleven goslings, and were taking them to graze beside the horse ride.

A Mandarin drake came over to the Vista.

An enormous Buff-Tailed Bumblebee browsed on pansies in a Rose Garden border. This must surely be a queen.

Too tough even for a Wood Pigeon

A Wood Pigeon tried to eat withered fruit in a myrobalan tree at the Triangle, maybe left over from last year. A Wood Pigeon can eat most things but these leathery remains seemed too tough even for it.

The Great Tit nesting on the lamp post behind the Lido arrived with a caterpillar for the chicks.

A Robin looked out from pink hawthorn blossom in the Rose Garden.

The Huntress fountain in the Rose Garden, recently restored at huge expense with a new marble basin, will only run for a few days at a time before it gets blocked up with limescale from the hard London water. But it's working well enough now to give a Carrion Crow somewhere to refresh itself.

A crow at the Lido ate a piece of meat kindly provided by the mysterious visitor. I have seen him a couple of times but never spoken, and mostly you never see him at all.

A crow and a Grey Heron strutted down the edge of the Lido side by side, eyeing each other with hostility but not ready to start an actual fight.

A Jay waited at the Vista, one of my regular customers expecting peanuts. But if they start getting meat they'll scorn mere peanuts, as the crows are already beginning to do.

The Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was well hidden by leaves, and this feeble picture is the best shot I could manage from any angle.

The stranded young Black-Headed Gull was in its usual place at Fisherman's Keep catching midges.

A Coot had started a nest in an even sillier place than usual, on the bare edge of the lake at the Triangle. When the nesting instinct takles hold of them they are unstoppbale.

The ill-fated nest on the post at Peter Pan has been restarted -- as Dr Johnson said when a friend married for the second time, the triumph of hope over experience.

The Mute Swan 4DTT seemed finally settled on her nest on the gravel strip on the Long Water, but it's not certain yet whether she's established and sitting on eggs.

The same with 4FUF in the reeds east of the Lido. It's been a long on-and-off affair in both places.

At least the Egyptian Geese with six teenagers have done everything right, and have reaped the reward for their care. Their mother is still keeping watch looking for approaching dogs, as they are only beginning to fly.

Two Mandarin drakes could be seen at the Vista. I haven't seen the female with the ducklings again but this is not necessarily a bad sign, as these ducks spend a lot of time ashore hidden in the undergrowth.

A Mallard drake preened his smart feathers on a post by the island.

The individual florets in the big round heads of the allium flowers in the Rose Garden provide plenty of nectar for Buff-Tailed Bumblebees, which range over the flowers taking a brief drink from each one.

Great Tits nesting in lamp posts

This gas lamp post behind the Lido has had a Blue Tit nesting in it in earlier years. I thought that a Blue Tit was the largest bird that could squeeze in between the gas pipe and the edge of the cast iron lamp standard, but this year a Great Tit has managed it. You can hear the chicks calling in the first clip just before a loud phrase from a Song Thrush.

It's more usual to see Great Tits nesting in the large keyholes in the side of the lamp posts. This one is at the southeast corner of the Serpentine.

Young Great Tits are now out of the earliest nests and chasing their parents around. This one was on the east side of the Long Water, but others could be heard in several places.

A Greenfinch sang in a treetop above.

A male Blackbird carried a couple of twigs to a nest at the back of the Lido.

The Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery came out in the afternoon. He was peacefully dozing in his usual lime tree and wouldn't look down.

The young Grey Wagtails are already starting to find larvae on the shore of the Serpentine, though I don't think they are up to catching midges in midair yet so they will still depend on their parents for a while.

The young Grey Herons in the third nest could be seen together. They are not quite ready to leave the nest yet, though they have been climbing around in the tree.

Pigeon Eater was in his usual place on the Dell restaurant roof. He looked bored.

He launched himself off the roof ...

... and snatched a Coot chick from the nest under the restaurant balcony.

The Coot chased him, but it was no use.

He carried it to the edge of the lake ...

... and swallowed it whole.

Three new Coot chicks on the east side of the Long Water at least don't have Pigeon Eater to contend with.

The Great Crested Grebe on the nest on the chain at the east end of the island was looking comfortable.

The nest has now been built up to a fair size. The sloppy nature of grebe nests has a certain advantage, as it makes them flexible and unlikely to be knocked off the chain. There is a great trail of algae and waterlogged twigs hanging down in the water underneath which gives the nest stability. But it keeps slumping doen and has to be constantly built up.

I'm very fond of the Black Swan but have to admit that he's gone mad from the excitement of having a mate on the nest. For days he has been picking up twigs and dropping them in the water instead of adding them to the nest. It was certainly he who evicted the Coots that were nesting in a corner of the raft -- he was seen by one of the gardeners tearing up their nest. The Mute Swans on the lake tolerate Coots nesting near them, but he won't.

A fox looked out from the long grass beside the Vista.

The first cygnets

The first Mute cygnets of the year have hatched, so far three from the seven eggs of the swan nesting at the east end of the lake. They were a bit hard to see through the long grass.

The Black Swan has been encouraged by fatherhood to turn into a terrible bully. He was chasing a rival around the lake -- not the rightful mate of 4GIQ but a swan that just happened to be there -- so he could show off to her.

She was on the nest basket but the Coots' nest has gone, destroyed by the Black Swan. A Coot bitterly gazed at the place where it was. Even the fearsome old boss swan used to leave Coots' nests in peace.

An Egyptian Goose guided her eleven small goslings across the Triangle car park to crop the grass on the far side, and chased off a threatening Carrion Crow. She was down from twelve to eleven young today, probably the work of the crow.

The Egyptians at the east end of the Serpentine have got two goslings through the most dangerous stage, and these are now quite big.

A Moorhen in the Italian Garden had a decorative background of yellow irises.

The perilously sited Great Crested Grebes' nest at the island is still intact. There is a chance that they may succeed after their rash choice.

The nesting Grey Heron was peacefully bedded down in the tree above. This nest looks hopeful too, so with luck we should soon see the fourth brood this year in a place where they're fairly easy to watch.

A male Reed Bunting appeared on a reed stem by the Diana memorial fountain, but the song you can hear is from a Reed Warbler hidden lower down in the reeds. 

One of the two young Grey Wagtails wandered along the edge of the lake. They have a paler version of the adult's colours.

So do young Pied Wagtails. This seems to be the only one out on the Serpentine so far, and is always at the Lido. Probably it will start exploring later.

An adult male collected insects for another young one still in the nest. From the direction he flew off in, it looks as if the nest is at the snack bar of the playground at the east end of the Serpentine.

A Blackbird sang in a tree by the Long Water. A young one listened from a lower branch.

A Robin in the Diana reed bed unexpectedly came to my hand. It must know me from somewhere.

One of the pair of Coal Tits in the Dell was doing the wing-fluttering gesture that means 'feed me'. So now we know that this one, with the small white mark above the eye, is the female of the pair ...

... and that this one in the yew tree at the corner is the male.

There's a pair of Jays on the east side of the Long Water, but no way of knowing which is which.

A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee browsed on a heuchera in the Rose Garden. This variety is called 'Coral Bells' and has odd brown leaves and spindly flower spikes with little pinkish flowers, the kind of plant that only a gardener or a hungry bee would love.