Coal Tits on the lookout

The Coal Tit in the yew tree at the bridge found a tiny white larva.

The one at Mount Gate was keeping a constant lookout for danger: 'The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.' (This saying attributed to Thomas Jefferson is actually not his, and may have originated with John Philpot Curran, an Irish politician. But in these days of growing government tyranny we would do well to remember it.)

A Blue Tit looked out from a nearby bush.

A Robin across the bridge at Magazine Gate accepted some pine nuts dropped on the ground, the first step in making friends with a nervous bird.

Glad to say I was wrong about the Redwings having left the Parade Ground. Several were visible today, though as usual at a distance that made a good picture impossible.

A flock of Starlings in the secluded enclosure of the Diana fountain worked their way over the grass in a series of leaps.

A Rose-Ringed Parakeet ate plum blossom in the Rose Garden.

The Peregrines were on the tower until at least 3 pm. The male, on the left, was untidy because he was in the middle of preening.

The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull is looking very smart in his new breeding plumage.

He saw off another gull which had intruded into his territory.

A Grey Heron and a young Cormorant stood side by side on the fallen horse chestnut in the Long Water: both skilled fishing birds but with completely different methods.

As always, one heron of the pair on the Serpentine island was guarding the nest ...

... while the other stood on a disused nest in the next tree. I still haven't hear the chicks begging, but this only happens when one parent flies in and they expect a meal of regurgitated fish. You just have to be there at the right moment.

The male Egyptian Goose kept up his lonely vigil under the Henry Moore sculpture. His mate should bring out the goslings soon.

A small flock of Tufted Ducks under the bridge included the Pochard x Tufted hybrid. If he thinks he's Tufted, it's probably a sign that his mother was.

There are still Gadwalls on both lakes and the Round Pond. This pair was in the Italian Garden.

A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee on the PUSH sign on the gate of the Flower Walk did its best but couldn't get it open.

The daffodils beside the Serpentine Road that were stunted by having a ramp from the Winter Wasteland over them have recovered well and are beginning to flower, though a few days later than the unaffected ones on each side.