Wary Robin

A Robin in the Rose Garden was in a particularly wary mood ...

... and I soon discovered why. Its mate was in a nearby bush with a beakful of nest lining, and it didn't want me to know where the nest was.

Singing Chiffchaffs are very hard to film because they jump around in the tree after each phrase and you never know where they're going to settle. This is the best I could do today.

It was near the Speke obelisk, where I go daily in case one of the Little Owls should look out of their hole. Now every time I pass I am remorselessly pestered by four Great Tits which expect to be given a pine nut the moment they finish the previous one.

A Coal Tit in the Flower Walk is just as insistent now.

The young Grey Herons on the island were safely in their nest ...

... and the heron with the red bill was stubbornly guarding the nest at the west end. There is still no sign of breeding here that I can see, but herons have a way of surprising you and I didn't think the first nest was active till an unexpected chick started clacking.

Another heron was fishing on the boat hire platform. You wouldn't think it was possible for a heron to catch a fish from this position so high above the water ...

... but here's a picture I took last year.

There are still a few Black-Headed Gulls, including this young one with only the faintest sign of developing a black head.

Several Great Crested Grebes, I think four, have come to the lake to supplement the three pairs already here. You can tell they're newly arrived when more than two are sitting calmly together without disputing territory.

A Moorhen preened on a branch overlooking the Long Water.

The Black Swan was dozing on the new gravel strip on the Round Pond when he was woken by a Feral Pigeon walking close by him.

He glared at it till it went away, then went back to sleep. But birds sleep only with one side of their brain at a time, and are always vigilant -- as he needs to be in this exposed place only slightly safer than the shore.

There's now almost always an Egyptian Goose on the Round Pond Little Owls' nest tree. I don't think it could nest in the hollow top of the tree, because the hole is probably like a chimney going straight down with no support.

On the Serpentine six Tufted drakes tried to impress a female.