Sapiens qui vigilat

I hope everyone has been having a good Christmas Day. The park was absolutely crammed with people taking a walk in the unexpectedly mild weather, so there wasn't anything exciting to see. But most of the regular birds were out. It wouldn't be Christmas without Robins, so here are two that came to my hand, the one at the Henry Moore sculpture ...

... and the one on the north side of the Flower Walk.

Long-Tailed Tits were flitting through the bushes at the Queen's Gate crossing ...

... and a Coal Tit came out to be fed before I'd even got into the Flower Walk.

The Blue Tit in the Rose Garden shrubbery was in a skittish mood and I only got one hasty shot of it.

The same with the female Chaffinch ...

... but the male is much calmer and was content to wait on a twig because he knew he'd be fed in due course.

The yellow roses in the Rose Garden are blooming at full blast ...

... but the so-called 'Christmas Roses' -- that is, hellebores -- haven't started yet and won't come out till January.

A Jay waited in a wintersweet bush at Mount Gate.

A Grey Heron was fishing in the reed bed by the Italian Garden, looking for fish swimming between the stems.

The heron in the nest at the east end of the Serpentine island was turning the eggs before settling down.

The pair in the middle nest were together again.

There was on heron in the nest at the west end, but this nest has never succeeded and I don't expect it to now.

A young Cormorant was reflected in the lake by Peter Pan.

A young Moorhen poked around at the Vista -- surprisingly young. It must have been hatched very late.

There were five teenage Mute Swans here, but the one at the left front is not one of the killer swan's five offspring.

The remaining one had wandered off and was on the Serpentine.

I think the explanation for this odd situation is that the killer and his mate aren't paying much attention to their young now, and they can't count past five, so they assume that any young swans are theirs.

The number of blond Egyptian Geese in the park is increasing. The difference in the colour of their wings is quite striking. Some are even paler than the male here.

No sign of the Little Owls at the Round Pond, as they are settled down in their hole for the winter. You might catch a sight of them after sunset coming out to hunt as the park closes, but it would be too dark for a picture. Here is the Coade Stone owl on the wall of the Albert Hall.

This is the crest of the Fowler family, who claim descent from Henry I of Germany. 'Henry the Fowler', who reigned from 919 to 936. It commemorates an incident during Richard I of England's Crusade, at the siege of Ptolomais in 1190, when Richard Fowler noticed that an owl had been disturbed and found that an enemy party had crept into the camp and killed a sentry. He was in time to repel them. The motto is Sapiens qui vigilat, He who watches is wise.