Young herons out of the nest

The young Grey Herons on the island have now managed to climb right out of their nest and up to the Magpies' old nest several feet above. They can't fly yet but herons, despite their large size, are remarkably good at climbing branches.

The pair of herons in the nest at the west end of the island were huddled together for warmth in the biting wind.

The old heron at the Henry Moore sculpture wasn't seen for several days and we were beginning to get worried about it. But it's returned to its usual place on the lawn.

Another welcome return here: the Egyptian pair were back together. The female had been missing for several days and it seemed that she might have been nesting again after the failure of her last attempt. though she was in no condition to do so. Perhaps she was just feeling depressed and wanted to be by herself for a while. Anyway, she was feeding busily and will soon be back in good shape.

Yesterday Ian Young found a pair of Mandarins, increasingly rare visitors to the park, on the Round Pond. I went up and couldn't find them. These are his photographs.

The Black Swan has moved from the Round Pond to the Serpentine, and is clearly in the mood for love. His Mute girlfriend doesn't understand his displays and calls, since her species does things quite differently. But she is fond of him, and perhaps enjoys his exotic ways.

A pair of Great Crested Grebes were mating on the Long Water. They don't seem to have built even the most rudimentary nest, and it looks as if the lower one was resting on a submerged branch.

Let's hope nothing comes of this. At this time of year there aren't enough small fish to feed the chicks, and Great Crested Grebes haven't learnt the Little Grebes' sensible habit of smashing a fish against a branch till it breaks up and feeding the bits to the babies.

The pair of Moorhens in the Dell resented an intruder, and both attacked it.

Young Herring Gulls had an aerial fight over a piece of bread one of them had grabbed.

The Black-Headed Gull who owns the landing stage was doing a spot of yoga.

A Black-Headed Gull perched insolently on the head of the goddess Diana while an Egyptian drank from her bowl. It's raining hard now, which will wash her clean again.

A Pied Wagtail hunted along the edge of the lake in a strong wind.

A Wren crept around in the undergrowth in the Dell shrubbery.

A Blue Tit at Mount Gate is now very insistent to be fed, and buzzes me at close quarters till I produce a pine nut. It only perched on this branch for a moment.

A Coal Tit at the northwest corner of the bridge looked down from a dead branch of a hawthorn.

The lichen that encrusts the tree both harbours insects and provides nesting material for the pair of Long-Tailed Tits that are nesting in the bushes here, though today I didn't get a picture of one of them carrying a bit.