Plenty of Blackcaps

Three Blackcaps were leaping around in a hawthorn tree near Peter Pan, catching midges in midair.

They weren't put off by a Jay in the same tree.

There was a brief view of a Blackcap singing in a red-leafed cherry at the northwest corner of the bridge.

Blue Tits are as numerous in the Rose Garden as Great Tits, which is unusual for the park. More gathered in the corkscrew hazel in the Dell ...

... along with the usual pair of Coal Tits.

A Great Tit perched in juneberry blossom in the shrubbery east of the Lido.

Currant blossom at Mount Gate made a bright background for a Robin.

The male Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery came out on the chestnut tree as the sunshine warmed up a chilly day.

The Great Crested Grebe pair at Fisherman's Keep exchanged courtesies in the intervals of fishing together.

A Grey Heron was fishing in the reeds under the Italian Garden.

The Canada Geese are keeping possession of the Mute Swans' nesting island. The boss swan and his mate were away beating up the swans on the Serpentine, and didn't bother them.

The Egyptian Geese at the Lido have been taking good care of their goslings and still had seven.

A pair of Mandarins washed and, unexpectedly, dived in the little stream in the Dell.

Three terrapins sunbathed opposite Peter Pan. The one in the middle seems to be a Yellow-Bellied Slider, as it doesn't have the red stripe of a Red-Eared Slider. At least one of the others is the latter, as seen from earlier photographs. All the terrapins in the lake are dumped pets, as it's not warm enough here for their eggs to hatch.

This is the first Common Carder Bee I've seen this year, on a polyanthus in the Rose Garden.

A female Hairy-Footed Flower Bee approached a wallflower to insert its very long probsoscis. It's the first female I've seen ...

... though there have been lots of males. You'd hardly think the two were the same species.

I didn't know there were white Snakeshead Fritillaries, but there were some in the Flower Walk among the usual, and much prettier, purple kind.

Windy day

A female Great Spotted Woodpecker climbed around in a tree near the Dell in the strong wind, which also made it very hard to hold the camera steady.

Pigeon Eater and his mate were bounced about by the waves on the Serpentine. She took the opportunity to have a wash and flew up to the restaurant roof. He came ashore.

This Lesser Black-Backed Gull on the boat hire platform has dark eyes, a sign that it has had the bird flu and recovered. So far the park seems to have been spared an outbreak.

A pair of Great Crested Grebes dozed peacefully as they were bounced up and down by the choppy waves.

The six Egyptian goslings at Fisherman's Keep huddled together to keep warm.

There are still seven at the Lido. Their parents had taken them on to the grassy bank to feed. The seventh gosling can just be ssen at the top with its father.

The Canada gander on the swan nesting island was guarding his mate on her nest.

The dominant Mute Swan pair were at a safe distance on the gravel strip, so all was peaceful for the moment.

The male swan at the Lido restaurant terrace was back on the nest, claiming it for when his mate was ready.

One of the two young Grey Herons in the top nest had climbed up into a treetop.

The familiar female Grey Wagtail was twittering loudly on the roof of the boat hire building, and looked over the edge.

A Great Tit called for attention from the Diana reed bed. The plant it is on is Fiddle Dock, Rumex pulcher, which means 'beautiful dock' but it seems to be a pretty ordinary straggly thing even when its small flowers are out.

A Blue Tit on the railings of the Dell was also making itself noticed ...

... and it flew along to the corkscrew hazel bush, the usual feeding place, where it was joined by one of the Coal Tit pair.

The Robin at the southwest corner of the bridge was singing, and finished its song before it came over for a pine nut.

A Jay waited for a peanut in a tree near Peter Pan.

Several patches of pretty Purple Deadnettles have come up near the Diana fountain car park. The white-flowered form also appears in the park.

The Huntress fountain in the Rose Garden has been repaired and is working, but for how long? It seldom keeps going for more than a fortnight despite its expensive recent renovation.

An uneasy truce

After yesterday's fight between the boss Mute Swan and the Canada Geese, the swans were making a nest on shore in the reed bed, while the female Canada was on the nesting island sitting on eggs. Her mate was guarding her. The swans decided to go down the lake to beg for food at the Peter Pan waterfront, and both passed the geese while the gander glared at them.

But later I heard that fighting had broken out again. This will not end well. Any goslings will be attacked by the boss swan. Apparently he has already killed the new Egyptian goslings on the Long Water. We feared that this might happen when we rescued them from the Italian Garden yesterday, and took them some distance down the lake to try to keep them apart, but their parents brought them straight back into the danger zone and paid the price for their stupidity. Today they were back in the Italian Garden looking depressed.

A Shoveller drake rested on the fallen poplar at Peter Pan.

Another dangerous place: the Coots on the post were adding to their nest. One of them brought grass for a lining. But the odds are strongly against any chicks surviving in this exposed spot.

Coots love bright nest ornaments. The nest at the bridge had a shiny gold sweet wrapper.

The Grey Heron at the Lido restaurant is getting bolder, and today it had come on to the terrace and was standing on a table.

A Herring Gull was eating a bit of apple it had got from somewhere. It's remarkable how many birds like apples, and they invariably prefer them to softer fruit. The people who feed the Rose-Ringed Parakeets have tried pears, plums, peaches and bananas, even strawberries, but all these are ignored in favour of apples.

The Black-Headed Gulls left for their breeding grounds weeks ago, but this tatty young one hasn't gone with them.

A Blue Tit ate a pine nut among the purple flowers of a cercis bush in the Rose Garden.

The pair of Coal Tits near the Serpentine Gallery usually follow me to the bridge. They won't come to my hand, but they can't be fed by putting pine nuts on the ground as they can't reach into the grass. So they have to wait till we get to the path, and there they have to take their chance with the clustering Feral Pigeons. They always manage to get some.

The male Chaffinch was waiting in the dogwood at Mount Gate ...

... and the unattached Robin ...

... and the usual Jay were also here.

A Wood Pigeon ate the young leaves of a plum tree in the Triangle shrubbery.

A pigeon on the Huntress fountain in the Rose Garden had a pale version of the original wild Rock Dove pattern with two dark wing bars, as seen on the other pigeon behind it.

Every year snakeshead fritillary flowers come up beside the path between the Buck Hill shelter and the Henry Moore sculpture, and the patch is spreading.

Cowslips have appeared by the east gate of the Lido. This is the end of the old wildflower patch, now neglected, but I don't think that cowslips were ever planted here so the seeds must have been transferred from the clump on the other side of the bridge.

There is a patch of bluebells by the Serpentine Road east of the Dell, with a single surviving daffodil from the earlier display.

Egyptian goslings in the wrong place

The pair of Egyptian Geese in the Italian Garden have produced eight goslings. These had absolutely no chance in the paved garden without any cover, so they had to be rescued and moved to the Long Water to take their chances with another pair of Egyptians, the Canada pair and the boss Mute Swan and his mate, all of which are hostile and dangerous. But there was nothing else that could be done for them.

The Canadas who were routed by the dominant swan pair yesterday have returned to the nesting island, which the swans have failed to occupy to keep them away. It looks as if there will be another fight, or a whole series.

The Egyptians at Fisherman's Keep still have their six goslings, which have now grown to a size to be out of danger from being snatched by gulls. 

A pair of swans started to make a nest behind the boathouse railings. Their idea of a nest is a pile of any old rubbish they can collect, and a paper cup is as good as anything.

A pair of Coots were starting a nest on a chain between posts at the island. They lay crooked twigs over the chain, and after a while these interlock and provide a firm base.

A male Great Crested Grebe on the Serpentine preened his fine plumage.

A pair displayed at the east end of the island, where there is a good nest site under a bush.

The male Peregrine was on the tower in the late morning, and I photographed him from across the lake in case he left before I could get round the lake for a closer shot. He did, so this is the only picture I have.

A Jackdaw by the Serpentine Road had some white feathers.

A hawthorn tree noth of Peter Pan, much used by Greenfinches, had a pair of them ...

... as well as a male Blackcap ...

... and a Wren.

The Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery stayed inside the chestnut tree till the late afternoon, but I found him as I was going home.

The usual male Chaffinch was waiting at Mount Gate.

A female appeared in the Rose Garden. I hadn't seen her for months.

A Blue Tit perched in a rose bush.

In the herbaceous border, a Dark-Edged Bee Fly browsed on a pink hyachinth ...

... and a male Hairy-Footed Flower Bee examined a polyanthus.