Thrushes in the rain

It was a miserable wet day. A Song Thrush near the Henry Moore sculpture was looking very soggy.

But there was plenty to catch. I have no idea what this creature is in Mark William's picture, but no doubt one of the nestlings enjoyed it.

The Blackbird from the Dell was collecting worms.

The Carrion Crow on the path by the Dell was still concentrating on the same patch of mud. It was definitely finding something like larvae, but they were to small to identify.

On their fourth day in the nest by Andrew Skeet's window sill, the four chicks are developing visibly and beginning to grow wing feathers.

Swifts sped in all directions as they hunted insects over the Round Pond.

A Grey Wagtail perched on one of the plastic buoys at the Lido.

Shortly afterwards a boat arrived and the buoys were untied and towed away. Perhaps these tatty old things are going to be replaced.

A Pied Wagtail used a pedalo as a hunting station.

Ten Egyptian goslings grazed in the daisies beside the Round Pond.

The eleven goslings on the south shore of the Serpentine sheltered under a bench ...

... and the seven clustered next to their mother.

You simply can't stop people from giving bread to goslings. The more notices that are put up -- and the park staff are going mad with notices -- the less heed people pay them.

The Mallards are down to four ducklings.

The Black Swan, in his usual place at east end of the lake, was preening and displaying his strange white flight feathers.

There were two Mandarin drakes at the Lido ...

... and three at the Vista.

At least some of them will have mates currently nesting in trees. When the females are away the drakes stop fighting and become quite sociable.