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.

A good day for thrushes

It was a late and hasty visit to the park today, as the lock on my front door had seized up and I had to get a locksmith to drill it out and replace it, so today's pictures are a bit routine.

A dull drizzly day suited a Song Thrush fine, as it made it easy to get worms. He sang happily in a treetop by the leaf yard.

A female Blackbird looked for worms on the lawn around the Henry Moore sculpture.

A Jay at the Vista was clearly impatient at being photographed instead of fed.

So was a Coal Tit at Mount Gate which was bouncing about in a tree, making it difficult to get a shot.

The pair in the corkscrew hazel in the Dell are accustomed to the slight delay, and pose nicely.

Purple cercis blossom in the Rose Garden made a pretty frame for a Blue Tit ...

... and a Great Tit.

A Blackcap sang in a sweetgum tree behind the Lido.

A year-old Grey Heron in the Dell peered earnestly into a backwater at the top of the small waterfall. It had just picked out a dead leaf to get a better view and put it on a rock.

The Coots' nest at the bridge is now very large, thanks to plenty of loose twigs in the Triangle shrubbery.

The Coots building a nest in a silly place on the edge of the Serpentine are still persisting with their hopeless enterprise. Usually even a Coot realises it's no good and gives up after a few days, but this pair is really stubborn.

A Canada Goose ate the tender young leaves of a weeping willow, while another preferred grass.

The female Canada on the Mute Swans' nesting island on the Long Water was still in place ...

... while her mate patrolled the water. The swans were far down the lake. Perhaps the boss swan was shaken by the furious resistance he met when he tried to evict the pair.

The Black Swan's uncertain girlfriend 4GIQ was ashore in front of the Big Bird statue, while the Black Swan was in the water nearby. Maybe his attentions had got too pressing and she wanted to keep clear of him.

A female Mallard in the Dell was being harassed by two drakes.

The six eldest Egyptian goslings on the Serpentine were is a neat huddle.

I couldn't see what was annoying this Grey Squirrel by the bridge, but it was certainly in a bad mood.