Robin pair

It was good to see a pair of Robins peacefully together in the Flower Walk, in the brief truce of the breeding season when they stop trying to murder each other.

Another Robin, which I have never seen before, came out of a bramble patch near the Speke obelisk and accepted a pine nut thrown on the ground. It had seen me feeding the local Great Tits which, being the most confident of all the small birds, lead the way for other species to get used to being fed by humans.

The Long-Tailed Tits are quiet at the moment and not much seen. The females are nesting and the males are hunting alone, so there aren't the usual flight calls.

A Great Spotted Woodpecker preened in a tree by the leaf yard.

A flock of Rose-Ringed Parakeets were wandering around on Buck Hill eating dandelion leaves.

The pigeon-killing Lesser Black-Backed Gull and his mate preened in the water next to his hunting ground at the Dell restaurant. The pair almost always keep a certain distance apart, unlike other gull pairs. This may be caused by the male's extreme ferocity.

In contrast, a pair on the gravel strip on the Long Water were cosily side by side.

Two Grey Herons, evidently a pair, stood on adjacent posts at Peter Pan. A pair of herons started to nest on the Long Water near the bridge last year, but the attempt petered out and so far there has been no nesting in Kensington Gardens. This is not the same pair, as the one on the right is only a year old.

The heron with a distinctive red bill has been continuously occupying the second nest on the Serpentine island for weeks but is usually seen standing up, as if there were no eggs to sit on. The third nest, high in a tree, is hard to view. Today there was the clacking sound of at least one chick begging but I've not yet been able to see it.

A pair of Moorhens in the Dell preened each other. This is not just a sign of affection, it also provides a tasty snack of fleas and lice.

The Coots' nest next to the bridge is getting larger and larger.

A Coot in the Italian Garden brought bits of dead iris leaf to one of the fountains, where it was trying to make a nest in the space under the spray head. As far as I know no Coot has ever succeeded in establishing a nest here, despite their building skills. There is simply nothing to fix the nest to, so the structure never gets started.

The dominant Mute Swans on the Long Water took a long time starting to nest on their little island, but they are now comfortably settled into the routine. It's a long haul: 35 to 40 days before the eggs hatch.

The swans' nest at the Lido restaurant terrace is now tastefully decorated with rubbish.

Gadwalls are very quiet ducks, usually silent. The male of this pair was quacking quietly because he could see a rival drake a few yards away and was warning it to keep away from his mate.

Different colours of bluebell in the shrubbery below the Triangle.