The biggest tree in the park

Autumn colours in the Rose Garden: the gigantic Caucasian elm towers over a fairly large sweetgum.

On the freshly reseeded lawn below a mob of Feral Pigeons were doing their best to frustrate the intentions of the gardeners.

A Blue Tit has turned up here, slightly relieving the sad lack of small birds in a place that was once teeming with them. It seemed to know me and came to my hand, so it's probably from the Dell ...

... where the pair of Coal Tits were in a yew tree. They have a choice of two yews and may be found in either.

The pair at the southwest corner of the bridge also have two large yew trees, safe and sheltering evergreens to pass the winter in.

The Robin was ticking on the other side of the path ...

... and the one in the Flower Walk was also waiting for pine nuts.

Two of the four local Jays perched in a tree by the Vista. There are a pair and their two young ones from this year, now completely adult in appearance.

The Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery came out in the afternoon. It's always the same lime tree but she chooses many different places in it and you often have to spend some time finding her.

A Herring Gull at the Lido had a thorough rinse and flap.

The Czech Black-Headed Gull looked around the large area he dominates at the east end of the Serpentine, then flew down and patrolled the shore.

The dominant gull on the landing stage at the other end of the lake is well on his way to getting a dark brown head.

The teenage Great Crested Grebe which flew into the park from outside remains at the north end of the Long Water and takes no notice of the other grebes. It won't be looking for a mate till next year.

The single young Little Grebe on the Round Pond may be the only survivor of this year's brood on the Long Water ...

... and this adult sometimes seen going to the Serpentine island is evidently one of its parents. But it's very hard to count Little Grebes as they lurk under bushes, and there are probably more than you think.

The Mute Swan family on the Long Water saw someone with a hopeful-looking carrier bag and hurried over to beg. They were disappointed as it contained a pair of trainers.

The little young Egyptian Goose has had a late growth spurt and is now not much smaller than its siblings. It's in the middle here, with its mother on the left.

Goldcrest by the bridge

A Goldcrest flitted about in the yew tree at the southwest corner of the bridge ...

... where the Robin was waiting across the path.

Both the Coal Tits came out on the upper level by the roadway.

On the other side of the bridge a Wood Pigeon was eating arbutus fruit.

Of course the Jays were here, as insistent as ever.

The Jackdaws along the shore of the Serpentine are much more polite in their requests, and never a nuisance.

The Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was in her lime tree, more visible than usual.

As the leaves turn brown and fall the Rose-Ringed Parakeets, well camouflaged in summer, become more conspicuous. Their predators include Sparrowhawks, Peregrines, Tawny Owls and even in summer Hobbies which are about the same size as them.

A Common Gull perched on a sign by the Dell restaurant ...

... and the Czech Black-Headed Gull was on his favourite post on the other side of the lake. Unlike the other dominant Black-Headed Gull at the other end of the Serpentine, he is only just beginning to get his dark head.

The last Cormorant on the Long Water was still fishing under the Italian Garden. I watched it for some time and it didn't catch anything.

The Great Crested Grebes are content with smaller fish, of which there is no shortage. One of the young ones at the bridge rested quitely beside its mother.

The baskets of water plants at the Triangle provide food for Mute Swans, Moorhens and Canada Geese. 

The tall plant that seems to attract most interest is Gypsywort, so called because in the past travellers used to dye their skin brown with it to make themselves look like real Romany. Its botanical name Lycopus ('wolf's foot') europaeus seems inexplicable, as the leaves don't look in the least like a wolf's foot.

The Egyptian Goose pair at the Henry Moore sculpture were joined by a Magpie, and hostile glances were exchanged.

The fox by the Vista trotted out to collect some peanuts.

A tough Buff-Tailed Bumblebee in the Rose Garden resisted the increasing cold and was punching holes in baby sage flowers.

Mist and Saharan junketings

A misty day with occasional weak sunlight brought the Little Owl out into her usual lime tree. Her favourite spot at the moment is hard to see through the leaves, but probably when the leaves fall off soon she will desert it and may vanish into her hole for the winter.

The pair of Coal Tits arrived and followed me to the bridge, perching a a yew twig level with the parapet. This is the shy one who hangs back in the leaves but can be tempted out by putting down a few pine nuts.

The Coal Tits in the Dell ...

... and the Great Tits were getting impatient because I was trying to photograph a Goldcrest, unsuccessfully because it was always behind a twig. I gave up and put some well deserved pine nuts on the railings.

A Wren perched on the deodar tree.

There were several Jackdaws around the Speke obelisk ...

... and of course the inevitable band of hungry Jays. This one was in the American oak by the Vista.

The Robin just north of Peter Pan is a calmer bird than the one at the bridge, and stood fast on the railings while someone took a close-up picture with his phone. Several people are feeding it, so it regards humans as a useful resource and puts up with their behaviour.

A Grey Heron preened an enormous wing in a willow beside the Long Water.

Another looked down from Buck Hill, where it was hunting rats in the bushes. It would be interesting to know what proportion of their diet is made up of rats. It seems likely that they live almost entirely on fish but look on ratting as an amusing recreation.

Lower down the hill, the Egyptian Goose pair in the Italian Garden had crossed the path to feed on a particularly lush patch of grass.

The Black Swan made a foray on to the Long Water, wings raised aggressively ...

... in full sight of the dominant Mute family, but they ignored him. Even swans get tired of fighting.

These are three more of the dozen young swans that flew into the Round Pond. I now have a report on the ringed one seen on the Serpentine, with metal ring W56648. It  was ringed by P.J. Belman as a nestling on 1 July at Kew, since when the only time it has been reported is in the park here.

The young Great Crested Grebes have almost stopped pestering their parents, and are probably now catching all their own fish. One was resting under the bridge with its father.

The young Little Grebe is still on the Round Pond, here photographed in the vague light of a misty sunset.

The fox at the Vista waited patiently for me to shell some peanuts.

A celebration in the Kensington Gardens bandstand of the 50th anniversary of the independence of Western Sahara from Spanish rule. Since then its history has been one of almost continuous civil war, and the country is still divided between administration by Morocco and the self-named Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, with the United Nations poking in occasionally. As you can see from the flags, these people are from the pro-Moroccan faction.

Returning Common Gull

It was a dull grey day with not much happening, but the first Common Gull returned to the Serpentine for the winter and perched on the buoys at the Lido.

They will straggle in gradually during the course of the month, most of them going to the Round Pond where numbers usually build up to about fifty in midwinter.

 

The dominant Black-Headed Gull by the Diana fountain was annoyed that a Carrion Crow had perched on the head of the Big Bird statue, and buzzed the intruder till it left. Then he stood on the landing stage which is the centre of his territory and shrieked in triumph.

A Grey Heron on a post at the bridge was disturbed by Mute Swans chasing each other below him, and uttered hoarse squawks of annoyance.

The Black Swan had been on an expedition to the Long Water without being noticed by the dominant Mute pair, and returned under the bridge in good order.

The smallest Egyptian gosling, which had often been seen alone so that we were worried about it, was back with its family just down the shore. The Egyptian in the background is its father, with his distinctive speckled face.

A young Moorhen rested comfortably in one of the nearby baskets of water plants. It's beginning to get its adult red beak, and will have the adult dark brown and black colours after its next moult.

One of the young grebes at the bridge was fishing industriously over the wire baskets.

The slightly older teenager was resting in its usual place by the reeds under the Italian Garden. It spends a lot of time resting, so evidently it has already learnt good fishing skills.

The Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery looked down from her lime tree.

A Coal Tit, the one of the pair that won't come to my hand, picked me up here ...

... and followed me to the bridge, where it perched in a tree beside the parapet. It's quite hard to feed, because pine nuts put down for it get grabbed by the larger tits.

Then it flew down to the lower level under the disapproving gaze of the Robin.

The four Jays also followed me around demanding peanuts. This one was on the railings at Mount Gate.

Long-Tailed Tit flocks appeared in several places. This one was in a hornbeam hedge at the Ranger's Lodge Garden, where a pair nested earlier this year.

A Song Thrush foraged in the wood chips under the trees on the north side of the leaf yard.

You can always tell when a stretch of grass has been reseeded, as Feral Pigeons soon notice and crowd in to eat the seeds. There can't be many left to germinate after the efficient birds have been at work. The park has a seeding machine that cuts grooves in the ground and tries to drop seeds into them, but most of the seeds miss and lie on the surface for the pigeons to get.

The gilded bronze reproduction of a tree struck by lightning, a work by Giuseppe Penone, was left at the Serpentine Gallery when his other exhibits were removed after their display in the summer. But sadly this intriguing thing isn't going to stay permanently. A notice at the gallery says that it's only here till 7 March of next year.

However, there is a real lightning-struck tree at the northeast corner of the lavatories on the Parade Ground, just as dramatically cloven. Trees struck by lightning are momentarily heated and the sap boils, so that steam pressure splits the trunk.