Robins all over the place

Robins were popping up all over the park, as if they were posing for Christmas cards. I decided not to make a selection, but to show you the whole lot.

There were two at the Henry Moore sculpture, no doubt a pair in the spring. The first one is now coming to my hand ...

... and the second was keeping its distance in the next bush.

One of the Robins at Mount Gate was visible, while the other could be heard ticking in a bush in the background.

This one is often heard singing in an olive tree at the west end of the Lido.

There were three in the Rose Garden, one turning over a leaf in the shrubbery to see if there were any insects underneath ...

... and one out in a rose bush.

The third was singing in the pleached lime hedge, having has to raise its voice to be heard over the din of the Winter Wasteland a few yards away.

Also in the Rose Garden shrubbery were a Blue Tit ...

... a Coal Tit ...

... and the female Chaffinch lurking shyly under a bush.

A Blackbird in a rose bed spotted a worm completely invisible to me or the camera ...

... and hauled it up. I think they must smell them.

There were also a Blue Tit ...

... and a Long-Tailed Tit, just one, by the Henry Moore ...

... and a Coal Tit in a dogwood bush at Mount Gate.

A Carrion Crow poked in the algae encrusting the marble fountain in the Italian Garden, looking for insects.

Pigeon Eater had made a kill and eaten most of it, but after chasing off some other gulls he returned for a quick bite before dealing with the two gulls in the background.

While he was away a Herring Gull had sneaked in and taken a morsel, which it was dunking in the lake.

The third pair of Grey Herons were messing around in the nest in the middle of the island. They've been together for several days now and it seems most likely that they are serious about breeding.

The heron in the first nest, invisible most of the time, raised its head for a moment so you could see it was there.

The one in the second nest was barely visible, not worth a picture.

A man on a penny-farthing bicycle made his perilous way along the cycle track by the Round Pond. This is a new machine with the luxury of a back brake worked by a cable, something not available on original versions as the Bowden cable wasn't launched till 1896. Early penny-farthings had a lever-operated spoon brake pressing on the front tyre. This had almost no stopping power; if it had actually worked it would have tipped the rider over the handlebars. I can see no trace of tyre valves on either wheel, so it looks as if the tyres are solid, adding extra discomfort to the ride.

Here is an interesting old picture of the Long Water found by Sean Gillespie. (The caption says it's the Serpentine, but that's wrong.) I'd date it around 1900 from the clothes of the people. I think it shows the Vista, but it could also be Peter Pan before the area was landscaped around the statue, which was installed in 1912. Both places have a slight rise in the path where it leads away from the water. You can just see the Italian Garden in the background.

At this time it was possible to take boats on to the Long Water. The man has a rakish outrigger skiff which no one would dare to hire out in these safety-obsessed days, but then it was assumed that people knew what they were doing, and that if they tipped over they could swim. As late as 1971 you could even hire a sailing dinghy, as shown in this BBC Man Alive documentary.

Wishing a very happy Christmas and a successful New Year to all readers. I shall be stumbling around the park again tomorrow and hope to cobble some kind of a post together.