Disorderly swans

The Coal Tits in the Dell called from a tree before I had got to the place where I usually feed them. They are enormously fond of pine nuts, and for preference live and nest in the stone pines that produce them. I don't think the park has any of these trees, which are a prominent feature of the northern Italian landscape.

A Blue Tit ate a pine nut on a hawthorn twig in the Rose Garden.

The cercis bush where they usually collect had been taken by Rose-Ringed Parakeets, scaring them away.

A Wren appeared on a twig at the southwest corner of the bridge.

The third Robin at Mount Gate was waiting on the railings.

A male Great Spotted Woodpecker climbed around a tree near the Italian Garden. A female has been seen here too, so there is a pair.

A Wood Pigeon fed on tender young leaves in a red-leafed cherry tree by the bridge.

Carrion Crows enjoyed a bath in a large muddy puddle near the Speke obelisk.

One of the young Grey Herons in the second nest on the island had climed out on to a branch, where it stood looking as gormless as only a young heron can.

The boss Mute Swan and his mate had left their territory on the Long Water to beat up the swans on the other side of the bridge, leaving the way open for eleven swans to invade.

They were jostling and chasing each other by the reed bed. The boss will have to drive them out when he returns, but Usually he can scare them away without a fight.

The Canada gander was guarding his mate on the nesting island in case any of them should try to come ashore. Aided by fury, he is more than a match for a junior swan.

The boss swan's unoccupied nest site in the reeds had a Moorhen sprawling in it,

So did the swans' nest at the Serpentine outflow which was also temporarily deserted.

At the nest site in the reeds east of the Lido, the male 4FYY saw off a rival ...

... and returned trumphantly to his mate 4FUF.

A Dark-Edged Bee Fly perched on a dry stem by the Ranger's Cottage. Their wings can't fold up, so this is their resting position.

Nesting news

A Blue Tit called from a flowering cercis bush in the Rose Garden.

Another at Mount Gate was lurking in the pink-flowered currant bush ...

... along with the single Robin, the only one of the three that will come to my hand.

Across the path a pair of Long-Tailed Tits jumped around in a Japanese maple.

A Chiffchaff sang in an alder near the Italian Garden. A pair are nesting in the brambles below.

Ahmet Amerikali got a fine picture of the Cetti's Warbler at the Vista ...

... and a male Blackbird carrying larvae. It's good to see that they are already nesting.

A female Magpie on the lawn outside begged her mate to bring her food. He was reluctant to respond, but he won't get anywhere till he does, as she is testing him to ensure that he will feed her when she is on the nest.

The two young Grey Herons in the top nest playfully grabbed each other's bills. Done to a parent, that gesture would be a demand to be fed, but here they were just being silly with each other.

The three younger Grey Herons on the island are growing up. They can probably fly by now, though I haven't seen one any farther out of the nest than it could climb. They will still be fed by their parents for several weeks.

The solitary first-year Black-Headed Gull was still at Fisherman's Keep. It's a bit tatty but seems healthy and its wings are in good order, so it's odd that it didn't fly away when the others left for their breeding grounds.

Just offshore, a pair of Great Crested Grebes dozed as they were bounced by the choppy waves raised by a stiff breeze.

The Mute Swans nesting in the reeds near the outflow are 4DVZ and 4FYF. I could only read one of the rings yesterday.

The standoff on the Long Water is still holding. The boss was on his nest site in the reeds under the Italian Garden ...

... and his mate was resting in the water near the nesting island ...

... but neither of them was bothering the Canada Goose sitting on her eggs.

I simply don't understand why the boss hasn't claimed the nesting island he used successfully last year with his late mate.

Two swans on the Serpentine gained altitude to fly over the bridge on their way to the Round Pond.

The six eldest Egyptian goslings on the Serpentine have been spoilt by visitors feeding them. If you stand still they come towards you expectantly. I don't feed them. It's much better that they should get their natural diet of grass and larvae, and bad diet may be a factor in them getting the 'angel wing' deformity caused by weak bones, though this is certainly also hereditary.

Windy and grey

It was a windy day. A Greenfinch sang his wheezing song in a swaying treetop by the Long Water.

The familiar Chaffinch from Kensington Gardens picked me up near the Serpentine Gallery and followed me all round the Long Water, collecting pine nuts on the way. He eventually followed me through the tunnel into Hyde Park, and here he is in a bush at the Triangle, still hungry.

It was a surprise to see the Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery out on the chestnut tree in the chilly wind.

The Coal Tits in the Dell ...

... and at Mount Gate were keen to be fed.

So were half a dozen Jackdaws which arrived in a flock betweeen the boat hire building and the Dell restaurant.

The female Grey Wagtail was by the Serpentine outflow. Before I could get any closer her mate flew past and she took off to follow him.

Ahmet Amerikali got a good shot of a male Pied Wagtail on a post at the Vista ...

... and a Chiffchaff in the same place.

The Grey Heron at the northwest corner of the bridge left his usual place on the steps, where some people were unsuccessfully trying to photograph a singing Blackcap (I couldn't get it either). It perched crossly in a tree on the edge of the lake.

A Moorhen foraged down the edge of the Serpentine with the wind behind it, disarranging its feathers.

The Black Swan and his still reluctant girlfriend were preening together on the Serpentine shore. She has little choice but to stay with him as he follows her closely and chases her Mute mate away, but she is still refusing to visit the nest he has made for her.

But there are signs of nesting with the other swans. The pair in the reeds at the Serpentine outflow were comfortably installed as a heron walked past. The male is 4DVZ, I couldn't see whether his mate has a ring.

4FYY and 4FUF were displaying by their nest side in the reed bed east of the Lido. Some Canada and Greylag Geese were hanging around, but they can get rid of those easily enough.

But the Canada sitting on her eggs at the swan nesting island on the Long Water is still in place, with the inevitable Coots nesting at the edge.

The gander was guarding her, chewing a reed stem to pass the time.

The Egyptian Geese at the Dell restaurant had taken their four goslings to the edge of the terrace, as Pigeon Eater was patrolling the shore on the other side of the building. One of them strayed away but soon returned to safety.

Marsh marigolds by the Diana fountain brightened a grey day.

Pairs and singles

A male Blackcap ...

... and a female were in a scrubby patch near the Italian Garden ...

... and so were a male Chaffinch ...

... and his mate.

A male Greenfinch was singing in a treetop ...

... but this isn't his mate, as she was on the other side of the Long Water.

Singles included a Dunnock, which Ahmet Amerikali found in the hawthorn north of Peter Pan ...

... a Jay just up the path ...

... a male Great Spotted Woodpecker in a lime on the other side ...

... and a Jackdaw a few yards away.

A Chiffchaff behind the Lido paused from picking seeds out of alder fruit to have a song. Typically, it hopped around between phrases, making it hard to flim.

A Coal Tit was also here, feeding on the catkins of a black poplar. Most Coal Tits have a two-note song, but this has three.

A Blue Tit waited in a berberis at Mount Gate.

A pair of Mandarins preened on a rock in the little stream in the Dell.

The male Mute Swan at the Lido restaurant was preening on his nest, waiting for his mate to be ready.

The Canada Goose on the swans' nesting island in the Long Water was still holding her precarious nest.

A fox wandered through the grass on the west side of the lake.

A beetle crossed the path at the Vista. This is a Black Clock Beetle, Pterostichus madidus, also called a Rain Beetle, and there is a belief that if you kill one this makes it rain. Luckily it crossed to the other side unharmed.