The Coot returns

Today's main story comes without a picture, though I shall do my best to get one over the next few days. The far-travelling Coot ringed by Bill Haines which went to St Petersburg has come back.

He writes, 'Many of you may remember Coot FJX, an adult male ringed at the Round Pond in February 2017, which was resighted in St Petersburg, Russian Federation in April 2021, three months after last being seen at its site of ringing. At the time it generated quite lot of interest on social media as it was only the fourth UK-ringed Coot to make it to Russia and the first since 1966. Well, despite thinking that that would be the last we saw of the bird, it has reappeared at the Round Pond on 15 March 2022 and was seen there again on the 17th, thus corroborating the initial sighting (sadly no photos yet). This is a round trip of over 4000 km and the only UK-ringed Coot to ever go to Russia and return! I saw the bird on both the 15th and the 17th as, after discovering it was indeed that individual on the 15th, I needed to go back and make sure I hadn’t misread the ring. I hadn’t.'

I went to the Round Pond to try to get a picture and found three Coots with Bill Haines's white plastic rings, but not FJX. I will keep looking for it.

There was at least a party of Starlings enjoying a splash in the pond. They always prefer to bathe communally.

Another interesting sighting: Reuben Braddock saw a male Reed Bunting at the west end of the Lido, but it isn't the male Reed Bunting previously seen at the other end. As you can see from his picture, this one is in full breeding plumage, while the other one was only beginning to change and couldn't possibly have got to this stage in the four days since I filmed it on 17 March.

A pair of Long-Tailed Tits have a nest in the Flower Walk. They seem to be well advanced, as they are bringing insects for the nestlings -- though I didn't get a picture of this.

But I did get one of a Robin bringing an insect to a nest beside the Long Water.

Back in the Flower Walk, a pair of Robins were under the plants in a flower bed. One of them fluffed itself up and did a swaying display dance. This was almost impossible to photograph, but here is the best shot I could manage.

A Chiffchaff sang in a treetop beside the Long Water. They fly to another twig as soon as they have sung a phrase.

A female Chaffinch foraged on the ground in the leaf yard.

The local pair of Nuthatches are also around, but hard to see at the moment. Our anonymous  contributor got a good picture of one finding a beetle.

A Wood Pigeon ate an apple that someone had put out for the Rose-Ringed Parakeets. Unlike the parakeets, they seem to prefer green apples to red ones. They eat a lot of green leaves and unripe fruit, so it's the usual colour of their food.

Carrion Crows gathered twigs from the corkscrew hazel bush in the Dell to add to their nest. It's a most suitable plant for nest material, as the twisty twigs lock the structure together.

The Great Crested Grebes in the nest opposite Peter Pan have chicks. So far I haven't been able to get a picture of one, but you can see that the bird on the left is holding up its wings as grebes do when they have young riding on their back.

The dark Mallard drake was at the east end of the Serpentine, looking soberly elegant in the sunshine.

A display flight of Mallards passed over, three drakes competing for the attention of one female.

Duncan Campbell photographed some Harlequin ladybirds waking up from hibernation on a tree. Some were already wandering about.

At the Triangle car park there was a small barrel organ, some brass instruments and an electric outboard motor.

Two people were unpacking a folding dinghy. Naturally I stayed to find what has happening.

Reinier Sijpkens travels the world performing music, usually in a boat turning the hand-cranked organ to accompany him as he plays various instruments. Today he visited the Serpentine and performed a gracious tribute to England by playing music by Purcell and Handel. Here he is playing some of Handel's Water Music, composed in 1717 at the order of King George I to be performed on the Thames. It seemed most suitable for the Serpentine, which was made for his son George II ten years later to please Queen Caroline.

Inevitably the police didn't think so, and you can hear them trying to stop him towards the end of the clip. He told me that in every other country he has been left to perform undisturbed.