Great Tits nesting in lamp posts

This gas lamp post behind the Lido has had a Blue Tit nesting in it in earlier years. I thought that a Blue Tit was the largest bird that could squeeze in between the gas pipe and the edge of the cast iron lamp standard, but this year a Great Tit has managed it. You can hear the chicks calling in the first clip just before a loud phrase from a Song Thrush.

It's more usual to see Great Tits nesting in the large keyholes in the side of the lamp posts. This one is at the southeast corner of the Serpentine.

Young Great Tits are now out of the earliest nests and chasing their parents around. This one was on the east side of the Long Water, but others could be heard in several places.

A Greenfinch sang in a treetop above.

A male Blackbird carried a couple of twigs to a nest at the back of the Lido.

The Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery came out in the afternoon. He was peacefully dozing in his usual lime tree and wouldn't look down.

The young Grey Wagtails are already starting to find larvae on the shore of the Serpentine, though I don't think they are up to catching midges in midair yet so they will still depend on their parents for a while.

The young Grey Herons in the third nest could be seen together. They are not quite ready to leave the nest yet, though they have been climbing around in the tree.

Pigeon Eater was in his usual place on the Dell restaurant roof. He looked bored.

He launched himself off the roof ...

... and snatched a Coot chick from the nest under the restaurant balcony.

The Coot chased him, but it was no use.

He carried it to the edge of the lake ...

... and swallowed it whole.

Three new Coot chicks on the east side of the Long Water at least don't have Pigeon Eater to contend with.

The Great Crested Grebe on the nest on the chain at the east end of the island was looking comfortable.

The nest has now been built up to a fair size. The sloppy nature of grebe nests has a certain advantage, as it makes them flexible and unlikely to be knocked off the chain. There is a great trail of algae and waterlogged twigs hanging down in the water underneath which gives the nest stability. But it keeps slumping doen and has to be constantly built up.

I'm very fond of the Black Swan but have to admit that he's gone mad from the excitement of having a mate on the nest. For days he has been picking up twigs and dropping them in the water instead of adding them to the nest. It was certainly he who evicted the Coots that were nesting in a corner of the raft -- he was seen by one of the gardeners tearing up their nest. The Mute Swans on the lake tolerate Coots nesting near them, but he won't.

A fox looked out from the long grass beside the Vista.

The first cygnets

The first Mute cygnets of the year have hatched, so far three from the seven eggs of the swan nesting at the east end of the lake. They were a bit hard to see through the long grass.

The Black Swan has been encouraged by fatherhood to turn into a terrible bully. He was chasing a rival around the lake -- not the rightful mate of 4GIQ but a swan that just happened to be there -- so he could show off to her.

She was on the nest basket but the Coots' nest has gone, destroyed by the Black Swan. A Coot bitterly gazed at the place where it was. Even the fearsome old boss swan used to leave Coots' nests in peace.

An Egyptian Goose guided her eleven small goslings across the Triangle car park to crop the grass on the far side, and chased off a threatening Carrion Crow. She was down from twelve to eleven young today, probably the work of the crow.

The Egyptians at the east end of the Serpentine have got two goslings through the most dangerous stage, and these are now quite big.

A Moorhen in the Italian Garden had a decorative background of yellow irises.

The perilously sited Great Crested Grebes' nest at the island is still intact. There is a chance that they may succeed after their rash choice.

The nesting Grey Heron was peacefully bedded down in the tree above. This nest looks hopeful too, so with luck we should soon see the fourth brood this year in a place where they're fairly easy to watch.

A male Reed Bunting appeared on a reed stem by the Diana memorial fountain, but the song you can hear is from a Reed Warbler hidden lower down in the reeds. 

One of the two young Grey Wagtails wandered along the edge of the lake. They have a paler version of the adult's colours.

So do young Pied Wagtails. This seems to be the only one out on the Serpentine so far, and is always at the Lido. Probably it will start exploring later.

An adult male collected insects for another young one still in the nest. From the direction he flew off in, it looks as if the nest is at the snack bar of the playground at the east end of the Serpentine.

A Blackbird sang in a tree by the Long Water. A young one listened from a lower branch.

A Robin in the Diana reed bed unexpectedly came to my hand. It must know me from somewhere.

One of the pair of Coal Tits in the Dell was doing the wing-fluttering gesture that means 'feed me'. So now we know that this one, with the small white mark above the eye, is the female of the pair ...

... and that this one in the yew tree at the corner is the male.

There's a pair of Jays on the east side of the Long Water, but no way of knowing which is which.

A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee browsed on a heuchera in the Rose Garden. This variety is called 'Coral Bells' and has odd brown leaves and spindly flower spikes with little pinkish flowers, the kind of plant that only a gardener or a hungry bee would love.

A narrow escape

It was a day of hail, thunder and wind with sunny intervals. A pair of Gadwalls on the Serpentine endured a hailstorm.

A Carrion Crow drank from a puddle.

The Egyptian Geese at the Triangle managed to prevent one of their twelve goslings from being carried off by a crow, bit it was a near escape.

The Canada goslings were being closely guarded. Even in a gaggle of geese with no goslings there's always one keeping a lookout for danger.

The Blue Tits' nest in the Caucasian Elm in the Rose Garden was constantly visited by parents, and one of the chicks came into view.

A Blue Tit collected fluff for a nest lining from a pussy willow in the Diana fountain reed bed.

The small birds were hungry again on a raw day. A Blue Tit appealed from the lawn in the Rose Garden ...

... and a Great Tit stared from the hawthorn tree above it.

The Coal Tits in the Dell were also wanting pine nuts.

A female Pied Wagtail hunted on the edge of the Serpentine at the Lido ...

... and the young one was on a buoy, but they were taking no notice of each other and it's clear that the young bird is independent now.

A female Blackbird foraged in the scrubby patch east of the Lido.

A Grey Heron perched on a bench at the Triangle ...

... and was scolded by an angry Wren in the bushes behind.

I couldn't find the Mandarin ducklings on the Long Water, but three drakes were visible. Two came over to the Vista beside the Gadwall x Mallard hybrid drake.

On the far side of the Vista the Mute Swans 4HDW and 4DTT were back at their nest on the gravel strip, but they still haven't settled down there.

However, it does look as if 4FUF is sitting in earnest in the reeds east of the Vista.

Young Long-Tailed Tits and Mandarin ducklings

The Long-Tailed Tits nesting at the southeast corner of the leaf yard have brought out their young, and the bushes were a busy scene as they all dashed about.

Blue Tits are nesting in a cleft in the trunk of the huge Caucasian Elm in the Rose Garden.

A Coal Tit in the Dell enjoyed a pine nut, carefully eating it in little bits.

A Song Thrush near Peter Pan was carrying a large chunk of nesting material. Heaven knows how they manage to fly and land when they can't see out the front.

One of the two young Grey Wagtails was being fed by a parent on the edge of the Lido restaurant terrace.

The male Robin at Mount Gate came out from under a bush.

A male Chaffinch demanded a pine nut near the Serpentine Gallery.

A Carrion Crow had a good try at looking sweet in hawthorn blossom.

Ahmet Amerikali got a fine close-up shot of a Reed Warbler in the reeds by the Diana fountain.

A young Grey Heron stared into the Dell stream as a carp surfaced.

The heron sitting at the east end of the island looked up from the nest.

The Great Crested Grebes' nest below remains improbably intact.

The four Coot chicks in the lake under the Italian Garden are quite large now and mostly feeding themselves, though a parent will occasionally offer one a strand of algae.

The Mandarin pair on the Long Water have brought out three ducklings, though there was only a distant view of them across the Vista.

A pair of Egyptian Geese by the boathouses have produced twelve goslings.

The male Mute Swan 4FYY guarded the nest in the reeds east of the Lido as the female 4FUF came out to feed.

A Small White butterfly perched on a bramble leaf near the Italian Garden.

A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee browsed on Mexican Orange Blossom at the bridge.