Visiting Wigeon

Two female Wigeon, only occasional visitors to the park, have flown on to the Round Pond.

The Little Owl is still coming out in the horse chestnut tree, though there are now few leaves to give her any cover.

A Wren climbed a tree beside the Henry Moore sculpture ...

... with a Robin singing on a branch.

A Robin in the North Flower Walk was at a little hole in a tree that fills with rainwater and gives it a place to drink.

The Chaffinch pair in the Rose Garden were waiting in a hawthorn tree.

The usual male in Kensington Gardens picked me up at the Vista.

Looking up the lake you could see a crowd of Cormorants on the fallen Lombardy poplar. with more flying in.

On the far side of the water a young Grey Heron was surprised by a Cormorant popping up next to it.

Some idiot let his dog jump into the water, where the violent boss Mute Swan's family had come to beg food from the visitors. The young ones are just as aggressive as their father, and soon put it to rout. The adult swan here is their mother, also a tough customer.

Pigeon Eater landed on the roof of the Dell restaurant and made sure everyone knew he was there. There was no sign of his rival.

The Lesser Black-Backed Gull at the Lido was still balancing on the buoy, beside two Common Gulls and two Black-Headed Gulls.

The dominant Black-Headed Gull on the landing stage has grown considerably more of its dark head feathers since I last photographed it on the 8th.

I went back to the Round Pond just before sunset to see if the Little Owl had got into an interesting place, but as I arrived she was displaced by a pair of Magpies and retired to her hole. The Magpies preened to congratulate themselves.

Starlings flew into a tree to roost.

Two Coots fought in the sunset, watched by their mates.

Green Woodpecker by the Bayswater Road

Another sunny morning, and the Little Owl at the Round Pond was out on a completely bare branch, although there were Jackdaws and Magpies in the lower part of the horse chestnut tree.

A Green Woodpecker appeared on a tree by the path along the north side of Kensington Gardens. They are very mobile and you never know where they will turn up.

In the holly hedge bordering the park the Wood Pigeons have eaten most of the berries, but there are still a few to be gleaned.

A pair of Chaffinches perched in a bush in the Dell.

The female Chaffinch at the southwest corner of the bridge was there again today.

Ahmet Amerikali photographed a Long-Tailed Tit here.

More Common Gulls have arrived on the Round Pond. They tend to straggle in one by one until there are about 50 in midwinter. Their pretty dark eyes give them a deceptively gentle look.

The odd-coloured Lesser Black-Backed Gull with dark eyes -- not normal for this species -- was at the Dell restaurant, in the absence of Pigeon Eater and also of the odd-coloured gull with pale eyes. I think these two are brothers as they are both unusually large, but you don't see them together.

A Cormorant sunned its wings at the island.

A young Moorhen wandered along the edge of the Serpentine looking for insects among the fallen leaves. A Moorhen's life is largely spent foraging for tiny scraps.

Another confronted a pair of Egyptian Geese.

The Egyptians at the Henry Moore sculpture now seem to be in undisputed possession of the lawn, after many noisy confrontations with a rival pair.

Three Red-Crested Pochard drakes have arrived on the Long Water ...

... but there are still no Mandarins, so here is a remarkable picture taken by Virginia a while ago of a female towering over her cowed-looking mate. They are actually the same size, so it's a matter of attitude.

Sadly, the report of a Knot at the Lido, which would have been a new species in the park, was mistaken. There was a Knot on the 9th, but it was in Regent's Park at the zoo. So the all-time total for the park remains at 197 species.

Yesterday's range of insects seen on the Mexican orange in the Rose Garden didn't include a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee, normally the most abundant species this late in the year. But there was one today.

Looking up the avenue to the south front of Kensington Palace, an added wing designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor and grander in style than the rest of this rather plain brick building.

Sunny day

A beautiful sunny day brought the Little Owl at the Round Pond out on to her doorstep.

A female Chaffinch perched on a twig at the southwest corner of the bridge,

Ahmet Amerikali got a fine picture of a Goldcrest near the Rose Garden.

A Magpie perched on the crown on top of a gas lamp post.

A Grey Heron stood on an old Magpie nest at the Triangle.

Pigeon Eater rushed at a Feral Pigeon, missed, and came to a screeching halt at the edge of the lake, narrowly avoiding doing a somersault.

A young Lesser Black-Backed Gull played with a dirty old snack packet it had dredged up from the bottom of the lake.

Young Black-Headed Gulls, and many other young birds, have a tendency to ignore social rank and  harass their elders.

Two Cormorants took off from the island, heading for their night roots on the river.

A Little Grebe appeared at the Vista. I think it has been on the lake for some time after flying down from the Round Pond, but is not much seen because it's usually lurking under a bush.

It had a thorough preen, which kept it on the surface for long enough to film it.

A Pochard drake stood on the willow at the bridge.

The Black Swan looked at the water intake on the Round Pond. All the swans are interested in this occasional fountain.

Sunshine on a Mexican orange bush in the Rose Garden brought out a Speckled Wood butterfly ...

... a Honeybee ...

... A Common Banded Hoverfly, Syrphus ribesii ...

... and a Common Dronefly, Eristalis tenax.

Yayoi Kusama's giant pumpkin at the Round Pond is being dismantled. It was howlingly out of place here but a jolly thing, and people are sorry to see it go.

Sunset behind St Mary's church.

Owl braves the drizzle

On a misty drizzly day it was a surprise to see the Little Owl at the Round Pond out in her tree, especially as there is really no cover on it any more. She was looking down disapprovingly ...

...at a Jay which had landed on a lower branch.

There were lots of Jays. Two followed me from the Queen's Temple via Mount Gate to the Flower Walk, demanding peanuts till I ran out.

A Feral Pigeon in the Flower Walk had traces of the original Rock Dove pattern with black wing bars, broken up by large white patches.

A Wren climbed up a lime tree north of the Flower Walk.

Another in the Rose Garden posed in Mexican orange blossom.

A Great Tit managed to get a background of both pink fuchsia and Mexican orange ...

... but a Blue Tit was looking soggy and sad.

Starlings on the Lido restaurant terrace chattered as they waited for a chance to raid leftovers.

It's remarkable that this Lesser Black-Backed Gull could stay standing on a plastic buoy at the Lido. Herring Gulls, which are only slightly bigger, make the buoys revolve and are tipped into the water. Note also the struggles of the much smaller Black-Headed Gull on the right at the start of the video.

Pigeon Eater had come and gone, and a young Herring Gull was finishing the mangled remains of his lunch.

A Cormorant on the island played with a twig. It might have been some vague nesting instinct setting in, or it might just have been playing.

There was a full house on the posts and baskets.

The Mute Swans on the Serpentine were in a foul mood. One pointlessly chased another ...

... and this one drove off another swan which had come to be fed by a visitor.

A female Shoveller at the Vista spun dizzily as she scooped small aquatic creatures out of the water.