More Cormorants

The large number of Robins in the Flower Walk is causing problems for the senior bird that takes food from my hand.

While he was collecting his pine nuts, another Robin stood on the path and shouted at him, and when he flew into the bushes there was a brief furious flurry as he was attacked by a third Robin. But he's still the boss of this bit of the path and can deal with rivals.

A Long-Tailed Tit near the Henry Moore sculpture examined a cobweb to see if there were any insects trapped in it.

The female Little Owl at the Round Pond had got herself into an even more hidden place in the horse chestnut tree, and this picture was the best I could get.

The widowed Peregrine wasn't showing well either, as he was sitting well back from the edge of the ledge and could only be seen from a distance. One should be careful about reading the moods of birds, but he looked thoroughly depressed.

A young Herring Gull dived to fish up objects from the bottom of the shallow water at the edge of the lake.

Another young Herring Gull had pulled up a bit of brick to play with, but it wasn't an exciting toy and was quickly discarded. Like toddlers, these intelligent birds enjoy bright coloured things, or things that roll, or strings they can pull.

The Black-Headed Gull on the landing stage rested serenely in possession of his territory.

Cormorants are beginning to arrive in some numbers. There were six on the posts at the island.

A Cormorant was fishing in a fountain pool in the Italian Garden. The way it dived and surfaced quickly shows that it was after small fish just below the surface, which it swallowed at once so you couldn't actually see them.

When it did dive deeper all it came up with was a clump of algae, which it indignantly discarded.

The resident Egyptian Geese watched from the pavement.

One of the Great Crested Grebe chicks on the Serpentine saw its mother come up with a fair-sized perch, and chased her squeaking loudly.

It was careful to swallow the fish head first, which is necessary with perch because of their spiny dorsal fin.

The family on the Long Water has divided, with one parent feeding two chicks and the other one, but the two groups were approaching from opposite ends of the lake and met in the middle.

Moorhens nest in well hidden places and you seldom see much happening until the young ones become independent. Several have now emerged in their drab brown teenage plumage, one at the Vista ...

... one on the Serpentine near the bridge ...

... and another farther up the shore.