The rival Robin

This is the Robin at the other end of the rival dialogue I filmed yesterday, and again you can hear it being answered from the next bush.

One of the Coal Tits turned up on a rose twig.

The Little Owl seen by the Queen's Temple was the female again. Both are sitting out alternately in the same hole, a good sign.

The Jay was here too, but near the temple and not presenting a threat to the owl.

Another Jay was waiting at Peter Pan. They are organising their winter begging schedule, but I am more than happy to give them peanuts.

The same goes for Magpies, birds that we take for granted but attract oohs and ahs from American visitors. This one was on the east side of the Long Water, but they come out all over Kensington Gardens.

In Hyde Park another perched on a lamp post by the Diana fountain.

The Robin was on the fountain enclosure railings again. It's a new arrival and hasn't yet grasped the idea that people want to feed it ...

... unlike the old regular at Mount Gate, which was back again on the usual place on the railings.

Someone is constantly bringing apples to this place on the east side of the Long Water, cutting them in half and spiking them on the railings. The Rose-Ringed Parakeets love this feeding station, as long as the apples are red -- they are very fussy about this. I don't approve of feeding these invasive pests but they are undeniably pretty.

A Grey Heron flew up out of the top nest on the island and landed in a treetop, from which it kept an eye on the nest.

Another was occupying the nest at the east end. There are definitely thoughts of breeding. It's only a couple of weeks to the time they styarted last year.

The dominant Black-Headed Gull was patrolling his territory on the landing stage. This has nothing to do with breeding, which the gulls do elsewhere. It's about status.

The last remaining Cormorants are clearly finding it hard to catch any more fish. This one was in a pool in the Italian Garden, which they have already emptied of anything not too large or small to eat.

Most of the Great Crested Grebes have now left, including this year's young. I think they all go to the river, upstream from Chiswick. One remained by the Serpentine outflow.

A Moorhen wandered along the edge at the Vista.

Egyptian Geese are halfway between ducks and geese, and something they have from the duck side is brightly coloured plumage. The tiny vermiculations on the beige areas are particularly delicate.

A pair of Little Owls?

A Robin in the Rose Garden sang in competition with a rival in the next bush, which you can hear answering.

One of the Coal Tits also appeared in the hawthorn tree ...

... as well as one in the yew in the Dell ...

... and one in the Flower Walk. There are pairs in all these places but mostly you see one at a time.

The Little Owl at the Vista is tricky to photograph in the hole on a sunny day, as the hole is on the shaded side of the tree and you have to stand in the tree's shadow to avoid glare.

I'm not sure, but I don't think this is the one I saw here earlier. Little Owls' eyebrows are very mobile but these are definitely smaller than the first owl's and it looks like a female. It's good news if there's a pair here.

The owl was frightened back into the hole by a Jay landing on a branch in front of it.

A Carrion Crow in the Rose Garden ate a rat in front of the floral boder, to suitably dreadful musical accompaniment from the funfair.

The usual pair of Magpies followed me down the east side of the Long Water.

You put out one peanut for each of them, well spaced apart, and of course the bolder bird swoops down and takes both of them. You wouldn't think a Magpie could hold two peanuts.

I didn't manage to call the Robin out at Mount Gate, but this Magpie was there looking through fallen leaves. The interesting thing about this very ordinary picture is that it was taken at sunset in the shade. I used the low light function of the Lumix FZ-2000 camera and the result is quite good. No retouching of the picture has been done.

It ws the turn of a Wood Pigeon to perch on the dead tree by the Italian Garden.

A Grey Heron fished under the sunlit willow at the bridge.

Pigeon Eater enjoyed the sunshine in his favourite place on the Dell restuarant roof.

The Black Swan collected his current Mute girlfriend 4GIQ from a crowd and followed her across the lake. It's not clear what she thinks of his attentions, but she doesn't actually chase him away.

A new swan nesting island has been installed on the Serpentine not far from the new reed bed at the bridge. Woven from withies, it looks like a big dog basket. It's stronger than it looks as it has a wooden frame. It should serve the purpose well, but its effect on the swan politics of the lake has to be seen.

The single young Egyptian Goose was preening in a puddle on the horse ride. Then it spotted me and came over hoping to be fed. A lot of people are feeding it, and it's very spoilt.

A large black bracket fungus on one of the small plane trees by the boathouses. It's probably too old and dark to identify.

The Moon, still one day off full, rose over the Wasteland.

It's a 'supermoon', nearer than usual and looking larger. As Shakespeare remarked in Othello,

She comes more near the earth than she was wont,

And makes men mad.

Little Owl out on a branch

The Little Owl by the Queen's Temple ignored the chill and came out on a branch. Assuming that he's the son of the pair at the Serpentine Gallery he has inherited toughness from his father, who used to perch under a sheltering branch when it was raining.

A hawthorn tree at Temple Gate was packed with hungry Great Tits.

There was an unfamiliar Robin near the place where people feed the Rose-Ringed Parakeets. It probably comes there to pick up anything it can eat from the spillages -- which have collected a legion of rats.

The Grey Wagtail was hunting along the edge of the Serpentine. Seconds after I finished filming it, there was a furious tweet as one of the Pied Wagtail pair turned up to chase it away. They regard this shore as their property.

A Jay waited in a plane tree behind the Albert Memorial.

There was another in the red-leafed cherry tree at the bridge, whose leaves remain dark red even when withered.

A Magpie posed in another cherry with conventional yellow leaves ...

... and there was one on the ornate stonework of the Italian Garden.

It was raining when I passed Pigeon Eater.

A Grey Heron stood in a treetop on the island ...

... and the usual one at the Lido was waiting for a fish to emerge from under the edge of the ramp.

A Cormorant was reflected in the Long Water under the Italian Garden.

A pair of Coots preened each other at the Vista.

The Black Swan was still follwing the Mute female 4GIQ around. I don't think she minds his attention but she isn't enthusiastic about him.

This teenager near the Dell restaurant seems to have flown in. It's not one of the killer swan's six, which are much more evenly grey ...

... and it's not the single youngster from the nest in the reed bed, which was a short way up the shore.

I didn't get to the Robin at Mount Gate until well after sunset, but there was just enough light in the sky for a grainy picture.

A closer look at the Little Owl

A very dark and drizzly day was much improved by a sight of the Little Owl near the Queen's Temple. It was surpising that he had come out in such dismal conditions.

A Wren hopped around in the undergrowth at the Vista, very hard to photograph as the view was constantly obstructed and this was the best I could manage.

A flock of Long-Tailed Tits was busy at the northwest corner of the bridge.

They concentrated on a dogwood bush. These birds eat seeds as well as insects, but dogwoods have berry-like fruits and these had long gone. However, several kinds of moth infest dogwoods so it seems likely that they were finding tiny larvae.

A Magpie watched them from the other side of the path.

Another Magpie perched on the dead tree by the Italian Garden, a favourite lookout point for all kinds of birds.

It was soon knocked off by a Carrion Crow.

The Jays in Kensington Gardens have remembered that swooping down to seize a peanut from my fingers is a good strategy that saves them from being bullied by Carrion Crows. One near Temple Gate ...

... and another by Peter Pan came down.

Not much was to be seen in the Rose Garden, but a Coal Tit ...

... and a Blue Tit were waiting in one of the usual rose bushes.

The female Pied Wagtail often seen running along the south side of the Serpentine seems to be always the same one. A male appears less often, but a few days ago I saw both of them speed past in pursuit of the Grey Wagtail.

A Grey Heron on the small waterfall in the Dell ...

... noticed a disturbance behind it, a piece of bread moving around in the water. It flew over and found a carp eating it. The carp was too big for the heron to eat, so it decided to grab the bread.  A Moorhen nipped in and took a bit.

This trodden-down patch of reeds on the Long Water was made by the Mute Swan family as a resting place, but when they're away a heron finds it a useful place to fish.

Pigeon Eater, on the kerb at the Dell restaurant, was plotting bloody deeds.

A nearby notice was occupied by the Black-Headed Gull with Blue 2023, one of Bill Haines's rings. Its head is already nearly as dark as that of the fierce gull at the landing stage, probably a sign of the high rank that allows it to occupy a post without getting knocked off.