A visit from the Bar-Heads

A pleasant but uneventful day was at least graced by the Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery, who was out enjoying the morning sunshine.

One of the usual Jays perched in a horse chestnut by Temple Gate.

You can see how damaged the leaves are by a combination of the Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner moth and the summer drought, and some of the trees are completely leafless. There seems to be nothing that can be done about this pest. The Indian Horse Chestnuts planted along the west side of the West Carriage Drive between the Serpentine Gallery and Mount Gate are unaffected, but they are a smaller species and will never grow as large as the English tree.

However, there is some good news about trees. We lost all the English Elms in 1968 through infestation by the Elm Bark Beetle. Now a resistant strain of elms has been found, and there is an experimental row of them at the western edge of Kensington Gardens which seem to be doing well.

I couldn't see why this Jackdaw was calling so insistently from a treetop beside the Serpentine. It's a bird that says its name, 'Jack, Jack.'

In the Middle Ages many English birds were given personal names: Jack Daw, Mag Pie, Robin Redbreast, Jenny Wren, Philip Sparrow. Sometimes one part of the name survives, sometimes the two have merged.

The Robin at the southwest corner of the bridge ...

... and a Blue Tit in the Rose Garden were impatient at being photographed and wanted their daily pine nuts.

A Grey Wagtail hunted along the edge of the Lido restaurant terrace. Wagtails are often seen at the two lakeside restaurants, where spilt food attracts insects.

A young Great Crested Grebe on the Long Water stretched its wings.

The two ¾ Bar-Headed x ¼ Greylag hybrids were cruising past the island ...

... and came ahore to find a respectable patch of grass. They regularly visit from St James's Park, and the one on the left in the first clip spent June here moulting. A little smaller than Greylags, they are much lighter on their feet and walk swiftly and gracefully. The Bar-Headed Goose is an Indian species, notable for migrating over the Himalayas at very high altitudes.

The smallest Egyptian gosling makes up in determination what it lacks in size, and insistently demanded food. It accepted some sunflower hearts.

Several people have been feeding it to help it grow. Let's hope that it's strong enough to carry the weight of its developing primary feathers and can escape getting 'angel wing'. So far everything seems all right.

The dominant Mute Swans on the Long Water, 3HDW and 4DTT, were by the bridge after successfully expelling some intruders.

The female 4DTT cruised over to the Vista to join her single cygnet 4HTH.

The Black Swan and 4GIQ were on the other side of the bridge with a young Grey Heron that wanted food. However, I don't carry anything a heron would like, so it had to wait for someone else. All the herons hatched in the park are absurdly casual about humans.

Red-Crested Pochards cruised under the bridge. These too are normally very shy, but in the park they have learnt to tolerate people.

A Mallard and a pair of Shovellers rested on the fallen tree at Peter Pan, keeping their distance from a gang of Cormorants at the far end.

The mild temperature brought out a few bees in the Rose Garden. A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee browsed on a Bat-Faced Cuphea.

I think these little mushrooms near Temple Gate are Mower's Mushrooms, a name for various similar species that come up on mown lawns after heavy rain.

Playing the tables

Two Starlings preened on a chair at the Lido restaurant as they waited for a chance to raid a table.

They found a table with two pots of delicious mayonnaise, and set to work. But before long they were rudely knocked off by a couple of Carrion Crows.

A flock of Carrion Crows swept around a tall lime tree calling to each other.

A crow perched in a plane tree with a background of yellow leaves.

A Jackdaw preferred a lime whose leaves were still green.

The female Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was in her usual lime. I still haven't heard or seen the male for some time, and hope he's all right. But male Little Owls do wander, and he may be a hundred yards away or more.

A Wood Pigeon, one of several, gorged on the ripe fruit in the arbutus tree next to the bridge. The fruit was plentiful and easy to reach, so it didn't fall out.

The Robin at the southwest corner of the bridge appeared in the big oak tree where he was chasing the tits. They just dodge his attacks and carry on regardless.

A flock of Long-Tailed Tits worked through the oak at the southeast corner of the leaf yard.

The dominant Black-Headed Gull stood complacently on the landing stage with not another of his species in sight. He monopolises the lake from the bridge to the Lido.

Two pictures from Ahmet Amerikali: a Cormorant in a pool in the Italian Garden grabbed a carp which was too big even for a Cormorant to swallow ...

... and a Great Crested Grebe caught a carp of perfectly sensible size on the Serpentine.

The Mute cygnet on the Long Water and its father were on the gravel strip beside a preening Grey Heron. They soon saw the mother being fed at the Vista and hurried over.

The trio of a Canada Goose and two Canada x Greylag Goose hybrids was also at the Vista.

The smallest Egyptian gosling, though still very undersized, is beginning to get primary feathers in its wings.

Gadwall drakes fed at Fisherman's Keep, showing off their quietly smart vermiculated plumage.

A Pochard drake preening at the Vista diaplayed vermiculations all over his back and sides.

Dawn and drizzle

A beautiful dawn, photographed by David Lacey at the Round Pond, was succeeded by a grey and soggy day.

The female Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery had found a place on the trunk of the lime tree where she was sheltered from the drizzle.

A Robin sang in a Lilac Chastetree by the Diana fountain. Its curious name comes from an old belief that it was an anaphrodisiac.

The Robin near Peter Pan was being fed, and was taking food enthusiastically. Earlier I had wondered why it came to my hand so trustingly when it didn't know me.

A Grey Wagtail was hunting on the edge of the weir at the lake outflow. There is quite a large chamber behind this grating, probably full of midges, and the bird crept under the grating to fly around in it.

A Jackdaw perched on the ornamental crown on top of a gas lamp post by the boat hire platform.

A pair of Magpies waited beside the Henry Moore lawn.

One of the four relentless Jays was in a birch at Mount Gate.

The young Great Crested Grebe of unknown origin spends most of its time fishing among the reeds under the Italian Garden. A Moorhen passed by, but there is peace between the two species. Coots on the other hand hate grebes, persecute Moorhens, and are obnoxious to each other.

One of the adults from the island was resting with a chick. The quiet lasted for barely half a minute before the chick piped up again and started prodding its parent.

The teenage grebe from the Dell restuarant was standing on the edge at Fisherman's Keep. Still lighter than an adult, it can stand more gracefully.

With the usual curiosity of a young bird, it examined the edge of the lake and an old cast-iron water level.

Its parents were not far away, diving in the shallows by the lake outflow. Fish lurk among the fallen leaves, so it's a good hunting ground.

The two Mute cygnets cruised by.

The Black Swan and his mate were at the Triangle, and instantly rushed over for sunflower seeds.

The dominant pair on the Long Water had cleared the place of all swans except for their own teenager, and came over to Peter Pan to beg for snacks.

Red-Crested Pochard drakes dived in the Long Water by the bridge. They are now completely in their fine breeding plumage. There are still no females here at all. We used to get a few in previous years, and once a pair bred successfully and raised two young.

The small fallen poplar beside the Vista has almost completely disintegrated, but there is still enough left for some Common Pochaards to rest on.

A bit of wind

Colder weather and a chilling wind brought Great Tits and a Blue Tit storming out of the bushes at the bridge to take pine nuts.

The usual Robin was there but doesn't like being filmed.

There are sadly few small birds in the Rose Garden now since the shrubbery has been destroyed, but a pair of Great Tits remain loyal and usually appear in a rose bush.

The Flower Walk was shut, as it is for some reason when there is a wind -- why are the trees here more likely to blow down than the tens of thousands of trees elesewhere in the park? -- so the usual Jay gang didn't pick me up till I was going home. This one was in a yew at Mount Gate.

The Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was staying close to the trunk to avoid her feathers getting disarranged.

Pigeon Eater contemplated the waves and went into the water amid a flock of Coots. He didn't stay long and soon returned to the stable shore.

A Cormorant at the island extended its wings to dry them as far as it could without getting blown off the post.

The pair at the other end of the island settled down in their comforatble patch of grass.

Grey Herons and Cormorants throughly dislike each other as fishing rivals, but when a heron preened on a post the Cormorant couldn't help copying it. This was shot in the lee of the bridge, so conditions look calmer than they were.

The Long Water is sheltered by trees, so a heron fishing at Peter Pan was barely ruffled.

The Black-Headed Gull at the landing stage, seen here on the head of the Big Bird statue, is already beginning to regrow his dark head feathers, months in advance of the other gulls. I think that this is because this dominant bird is awash with testosterone.

One of the young Great Crested Grebes from the nest in the poplar on the Long Water was fishing under the bridge, with an occasional contribution from a parent.

In fact I don't think that the young grebe by the Italian Garden is a sibling of theirs. It's noticeably older, the same age as the one at the far edge of the Serpentine, three and a half months. But it's not that bird, as I have seen both on the same day. Could it have flown in from elsewhere with some parents who knew where the lake is?

The Mute Swan family were at the Lido. Bill Haines has been busy and one of the cygnets now has a ring, Orange 4HTQ. I couldn't see the other one's legs, but now Jon has corrected my observation -- I misread the Q as O -- and told me that the one lying in the foreground is 4HTP.

The Diana fountain was closed because of the wind -- an even weirder decision -- which was good news for the geese. Some Canadas flew in ...

... to join the Canadas and Greylags in the enclosure.

A pair of Shovellers revolved together at the Vista.

The muse of Architecture on the Albert Memorial. 'You're expecting me to build that?'