Still eight Egyptian goslings

A Great Spotted Woodpecker called from a treetop in the Rose Garden. It's a male, as you can see by the red patch on the back of its head.

Although it was slightly warmer than yesterday the small birds here were still ravenously hungry, and I was accosted by a mob of Great Tits in the dogwood tree before I even got through the gate.

A Blue Tit ...

... and a Coal Tit waited in a rose bush with new red leaves.

Long-Tailed Tits worked over a winged elm near the Italian Garden ...

... where there was also an expectant Jay.

Another Jay appeared at Mount Gate ...

... where the unpaired Robin was singing quietly in the dogwood bush.

This is the Robin that lives in the yew hedge in the Flower Walk.

Pigeon Eater is spending a lot of the time with his mate now.

The male Grey Heron on the nest at the west end of the island felt like mating, and was prodding the female encouragingly.

He even climbed on her, but she wasn't in the mood and he gave up.

There was a row of herons on the posts below ...

... and another one contemplated a squirrel by the bridge.

Surprisingly the Egyptian Geese on the south side of the Serpentine still have their original eight goslings. They are quite obedient and stay with their mother -- adventurous ones soon get eaten. She was pattering her feet to bring up worms. I've never seen a goose doing this. Did she learn it by watching a Herring Gull?

This is the Egyptian pair that for years has lived by the Albert Memorial, whose fine gilded railings by Francis Skidmore you can see in the background. They are a long way from water, and it's a puzzle how they manage here.

The Black Swan was with 4GIQ, who now seems quite content to stay with him. This is hard luck on her Mute mate, who gets chased off if he tries to reclaim her.

The Mallard pair are still in possession of the nesting basket at the Triangle. The female was perfectly camouflaged against the withy fence.

Cold and hungry

On a chilly day the small birds were very hungry and chased me around the Rose Garden. A Blue Tit waited in a cedar on the north edge ...

... and another ...

... and a Coal Tit perched in the blossom in a dogwood tree.

A Song Thrush sang in the woodland behind the Cavalry Memorial.

The Robin at the southwest corner of the bridge emerged from the brambles to collect some pine nuts. It has a mate who is very shy and only glimpsed occasionally.

A small flock of Starlings moved over the grass by the Italian Garden looking for larvae.

A Carrion Crow ate a rat on the pavement.

A gentler scene in the crocuses on the east lawn of the Albert Memorial.

The familiar female Pied Wagtail was with her mate hunting along the edge of the Serpentine.

Pigeon Eater, on the right here, was with his mate at the Dell restaurant.

The Grey Heron chicks looked out of the top of their nest on the island.

The pair were back in the west nest, but their occupation is an on-off affair and it seems unlikely that they will nest seriously soon.

A heron stood at the edge the brambles under the bridge, a place that gives chances of both a fish and a rat.

A pair of Great Crested Grebes displayed at the west end of the island. They were probably not near a nest site here, but it was a place to keep out of the icy wind.

There are two other pairs, one of which was near the Lido ...

... and the other on the Long Water near the bridge.

The Black Swan pushed through some Coots at the Triangle.

The Mallard pair were still in the nearby nesting basket, so far unchallenged by any larger birds.

Green Woodpeckers everywhere

Green Woodpeckers are now heard all over the park. One preened in a tree near the Rose Garden.

The other bird that is appearing in large numbers now is the Coal Tit. I saw six and heard several others. This is one I haven't seen before in a veronica bush at the west end of the Flower Walk ...

... and here is one of the familiar pair at Temple Gate.

A Blue Tit perched in new rose leaves in the Rose Garden ...

... and the male Chaffinch was waiting in the hawthorn which is one of the gathering places for small birds.

A Wood Pigeon drank from a puddle.

The Robin pair at Mount Gate were together in a bush.

A Jay looked for insects in the wood chips under an old chestnut near the Serpentine Gallery.

The usual female Pied Wagtail was at the Lido restaurant ...

... with her mate a few yards along the shore.

A Grey Heron parent in the nest on the island found it hard to maintain the nest with two large chicks bouncing and clacking in it.

A heron perched on the water level that was pointlessly installed when the Olympics were held in the park. The level of the Serpentine never varies by more than a couple of inches.

There are now two pairs of Great Crested Grebes by the island, so a good deal of territorial posturing has been going on. The two available nest sites are too close together for peace.

The little old female Mute Swan 4GIB has been bitten by a dog. Luckily the splendid volunteers were on hand to rescue her and she is now recovering at the Swan Sanctaury.

There are eight new Egyptian goslings on the south shore of the Serpentine, a sadly dangerous place but their mother is doing her best to protect them.

A pair made the most of a small swamp by the leaf yard.

The swan nesting basket at the Triangle had a pair of Mallards in it. It has been visited by just about every species on the lake -- except swans, which show no interest whatever.

A fox came out of the brambles near the Vista, and was tempted to stay in sight by giving it some peanuts.

Windy

It was a windy day. A young Cormorant, still with a pale front, preened on a post at the island. The adult on the next post preferred to sit it out.

The female Pied Wagtail on the edge of the Serpentine just managed not to get blown away.

Pigeon Eater preened on the edge of the lake with his mate in the background while choppy waves broke on the shore.

Three Mute Swans were ruffled by the wind as they preened near the Lido.

A female Great Crested Grebe bounced in the waves.

A pair displayed in the smooth water in the lee of the island. There are two good nest sites a short distance away.

The young Grey Herons were making a racket in the nest but there was nothing much to see. An adult stalked through a crowd of Feral Pigeons by the bridge. It has a British metal ring, 119232, which I have reported. Sometimes you get sent information about where it was ringed.

Ahmet Amerikali got a picture of a Long-Tailed Tit at the northwest corner of the bridge carrying a bit of spider web to add to its nest.

There seem to be more and more Coal Tits, a welcome sight. This one was at the other end of the bridge.

A pair appeared in the corkscrew hazel bush in the Dell ...

... and there was also a pair in a rose bush in the Rose Garden ...

... along with a small flock of Blue Tits.

The scene was disrupted by an insistent male Rose-Ringed Parakeet, beautiful but a serious pest ...

... and more so by the Sparrowhawk flying over, but the birds instantly dived into shelter and it didn't get anything.

The railings near the Buck Hill shelter were thronged with Starlings. It's not just that they nest nearby, clearly someone is feeding them there.

Farther up the hill a Green Woodpecker hunted in the long grass.

A Jay at the Vista was expecting a peanut.

I don't quite know why I filmed this, but it's rather sad.