Return of the Peregrine

The female Peregrine was on the tower of the Household Cavalry barracks, where I hadn't seen her for several weeks. She was shifting restlessly, so I started filming her and she soon flew away.

The two Song Thrushes on the east side of the Long Water were foraging in the dead leaves.

Tom was in the park yesterday and surprisingly found three Redwings on the west side of the leaf yard. You'd think they would have left with the others a fortnight ago.

The Long-Tailed Tits were busy around their nest on Buck Hill.

There was a pair of Pied Wagtails on the boat platform ...

... and a Grey Wagtail on a wire basket at the island.

The Tawny Owl was in and out of his hole, at one time harassed by a Jay. He had a good scratch.

Bernard the gardener saw an Egyptian Goose nesting in a hole lower down the same tree. I haven't yet managed to see it sticking its head up. This pair, on a tree a few yards away, must be a different one because the nesting female doesn't come out till the evening, when she has a quick feed and a drink and goes back before the eggs get cold.

Another interesting picture from Tom, this time taken in Richmond Park: a Little Gull. They are infrequent visitors and I haven't seen one in the park since 2004.

A young Herring Gull amused itself by walking along the plastic buoys at the Lido. It couldn't stay still because they tip over under its weight.

A pair of Great Crested Grebes on the Serpentine performed the weed dance. I'm sorry the autofocus on my camera, normally very reliable, lost the plot for a few crucial seconds. Hope to do better soon.

A Coot brought a large stick to a nest in the Italian Garden, but couldn't get it either through or over the netting.

Two Mute Swans took off to fly over the Serpentine bridge.

The one surviving Mallard duckling was living dangerously under the hungry gaze of a Grey Heron.

There were two pairs on Mandarins on the Serpentine, one near the Triangle car park ...

... the other near the small boathouses. It's good news that the females are visible and therefore not nesting. In all the time I've been coming to the park Mandarins have only succeeded once in keeping their young from the attention of the Herring Gulls.

A squirrel hung upside down to eat Pussy Willow catkins.

Red Deadnettles have come up and started flowering. They are a favourite nectar source for bees, so I looked around and found a Common Carder.