A dim day

It was a very dark grey day and it was hard to get any photographs, let alone good ones. But the usual crew were in the Rose Garden shrubbery expecting to be fed: the Robin ...

... the Coal Tit ...

... and the male Chaffinch.

The female was outside in the tall pleached lime hedge, and called for service from a high twig. She is now expert at catching pine nuts thrown up to her.

Long-Tailed Tits were going through the treetops by the Henry Moore sculpture.

Since we lost contact with the Little Owls near the Speke obelisk -- they moved to another place when their tree died a couple of years ago -- I hardly ever go there. But the local Great Tits seem to remember that I will feed them, and come out of the brambles and call.

A Pied Wagtail hunting along the edge of the Round Pond was exploring puddles left by the little waves breaking over the edge, but had to dodge to avoid getting drenched.

The Czech Black-Headed Gull is an old park hand, and knows that if it sidles around in front of someone having lunch on a bench, it will eventually get a bit of sandwich thrown to it.

The young Grey Heron was on the dead willow by the Italian Garden again. I photographed it here yesterday but couldn't resist another shot in this sculptural setting.

The herons' nests on the Serpentine island are all either claimed by pairs or next to a claimed nest, and this heron had nowhere to go. So it was checking out a basket put up in a tree. These were intended for herons to use but, unlike the birds in Regent's Park, ours don't seem to realise what they're for. It doesn't help that one of them wasn't properly attached and fell down. It's not clear how firmly this one is tied on.

Only some of the Great Crested Grebes are going into their breeding plumage. This male on the Serpentine hasn't started. I think they get darker, and keep their summer plumage for longer, the older they get.

A Moorhen in the Italian Garden was enjoying climbing about on the dead irises.

A Coot at Peter Pan had hauled up a hank of algae and was pecking at it.

The pair of Egyptian Geese were here, one on the sawn-off poplar where they have their noisy displays ...

... the other on a post. The places where they stand to proclaim their occupation of a territory are different from their nesting places, which are usually in a secluded tree and they don't make a noise while they are there.

Most of them have now realised that spring is the right time to breed, but there are still a few clueless pairs that try it on in midwinter.

There were only a few Egyptians on the Round Pond, and the Wigeon had only two to protect her.

With few people in the park, the Greylags were straying around the cycle track. They take no notice of cyclists or runners charging through the middle of the flock.