Blue Tits in lamp posts

The Long-Tailed Tits' nest in the Rose Garden is at its busiest, with parents arriving every few minutes carrying insects to feed the chicks which are now calling continuously.

Two Blue Tit fledglings were part of a large family in a hawthorn beside the Long Water. 

A Blue Tit landed on a lamp post with insects before going inside to feed the chicks.

This isn't the lamp post I filmed yesterday: several of the gas lights in Hyde Park are used by Blue Tits. The posts have numbers: this one is 76, which has been a nest site for years. Yesterday's was 79. Both are on the south side of the Serpentine.

A slightly tatty Coal Tit in the Flower Walk has started coming to my hand. They're slow to trust you but when they do they're insatiable.

A pair of Reed Warblers are nesting  in the reed bed in the northwest corner of the Long Water. I got a distant shot of one arriving with a larva for the chicks.

The Song Thrush near Peter Pan was singing, but the Saturday crowds were too noisy for filming it.

Pigeon Eater and his mate were away again, and their presumed son was occupying his father's place on the Dell restaurant roof.

The four fountain pools in the Italian Garden now have a Coot nest in each of them. The first three have already produced chicks, but the fourth has only just been started.

The single Great Crested Grebe chick was visible across the Long Water at the Vista. The parents have done well to keep even one adequately fed at this time of year.

The Mute Swans had come to the near side with their seven cygnets to tout for food from the visitors. The huge and dangerous male stood on the edge ready to smash any troublemakers.

It was impossible to tell how the swans at the outflow were faring after yesterday's encounter with the fox, but at least the female was in place with slightly raised wings as if sheltering cygnets.

One of the two young foxes could be seen at the bottom of the Dell.

There are now four eggs in the nest by the Lido restaurant terrace, which were being guarded by the male.

The Black Swan was on the Serpentine by himself, hooting mournfully. Later he found his girlfriend and went over to her. She accepted his presence without enthusiasm.

The second pair of Canada Geese stood on the collapsing raft in the Long Water. They seem to be occupying it but have not yet shown any sign of wanting to nest.

The Egyptians with four small goslings were browsing at the edge of the horse ride beside the Serpentine Road. They have a hard time especially on busy Saturdays. Any time a dog is seen approaching the family has to cross the ride, the road and the pavement to get to the safety of the lake.

The big pink rugosa roses in the Rose Garden are particularly attractive to bees, which roll around ecstatically in the pollen. Here they are visited by Honeybees and a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee.

A Small White butterfly drank from an allium flower.

Seven cygnets on the Long Water

The swans nesting in the Long Water, two of whose cygnets we glimpsed yesterday, have seven and today brought them out on to the lake for the first time. Here they are under the water spouts on the edge of the Italian Garden fountains.

The swans nesting at the Serpentine outflow have hatched at least one cygnet, and four eggs still to hatch could be seen. (They had six eggs, so not all are accounted for at present.) However, the nest was being eyed by one of the young foxes from the Dell, and the outcome is uncertain. The male swan, who ought to have been defending her, sailed off to bully other swans on the lake which offered no threat to him at all.

Four Egyptian goslings fidgeted beside their mother on the edge of the Serpentine.

The five teenage Mallards were lined up on the edge at the Triangle. There mother wasn't with them. They have reached the stage of roaming around in a gang.

The male Great Crested Grebe of the pair at the boat hire platform was looking particularly fine. They haven't claimed a nest site yet, but might manage it on the island which isn't far off. I don't think this is the pair previously seen at the east end of the island.

The single chick near the Vista was in the water beside the nest. It's still at the stage where it's guarded in a safe place while the other parent goes off to find fish.

The Coots at the boathouses were feeding two chicks ...

... and the pair in the new nest in the Italian Garden have two eggs so far.

Both Little Owls could be seen at the Round Pond, the female at the top of a horse chestnut ...

... and the male in a small lime tree.

A Blue Tit nesting in the hollow cast iron post supporting a gas lamp beside the Serpentine brought food to the chicks, which were chirping incessantly even when no parent was there.

Young Great Tits were begging noisily in an oak tree at the northwest corner of the bridge ...

... where young Long-Tailed Tits were also being fed by their parents.

This Great Tit perched on a sisyrhynchium in the Rose Garden is one of a pair that follow me around whenever I'm in the garden.

While I was there a flock of Rose-Ringed Parakeets flying overhead suddenly screeched and scattered. There was a Sparrowhawk among them.

The usual Grey Wagtail was hunting on the barred-off path near the bridge, collecting insects for its nest nearby.

A Song Thrush sang in a holly tree beside the Long Water.

A Brimstone butterfly perched on a red campion flower did a good impression of a leaf.

The first cygnets

The Mute Swans nesting on the little island in the Long Water have hatched their first cygnets 37 days after the female started sitting. Two can be seen here. Probably there are more on the way.

The Black Swan and his girlfriend seemed more comfortable together today, though she did peck him out of the way when both reached for the same piece of food.

Two Canada goslings could be seen at the Lido sheltering from the drizzle on their mother's back.

It turned out to be three when she stood up and led them up the bank to graze.

However, the Canadas have had particularly bad luck with breeding this spring. The pair with two of their own and one Greylag gosling have lost theirs, leaving only the Greylag.

Goslings brought up by a mother of a different species often remain confused. The Canada in this picture was raised by Greylags, and is now helping a Greylag family look after their goslings. They accept it as one of their own.

If the Canadas nesting on the raft in the Long Water had started a week later, their brood wouldn't have had to be rescued. The raft is collapsing and one side of the barrier has fallen off. The whole thing is sinking as the polystyrene foam blocks keeping it afloat get waterlogged. This is the third raft to have been put on the Long Water to attract terns, all of them ill-made and terns have never used them.

The gravel strip on the Long Water was another misconceived project, as it was meant to attract waders. But they don't like gravel and very few have visited it, usually preferring the slimy edge of the Serpentine or the Round Pond. But the strip has been a success with geese and ducks, and today there were Gadwalls, Tufted Ducks and Pochards on it.

The pair of Gadwalls that have taken up residence behind the barrier at the bridge were standing up and nodding at each other, and I wondered what they meant. They were agreeing to fly, and both whirred off simultaneously.

Just up the shore the Great Crested Grebe chick was sitting on the nest.

The Coot family came out to the water's edge in front of the statue of Peter Pan to eat algae.

After the success of the Coots' nests in three of the large fountain pools in the Italian Garden, another Coot is now nesting in the fourth.

Grey Herons seem to be depressed by wet weather, and the two young ones were standing quietly in the nest.

Blackbirds like singing in the rain. Yesterday when it was sunny it was mainly Song Thrushes that were to be heard.

A Wren stared imperiously from a twig by the bridge.

A Blue Tit in the Flower Walk perched on the railings against a background of yellow wallflowers.

A Carrion Crow looked down from an urn in the Italian Garden.

Another insect that likes buttercups: today a Marmalade Fly.

The little stream and swampy area at one edge of the Vista, flooded by a broken land drain, has now been fenced off.

It's adorned with a notice in typical park-speak:

'WETLAND ENHANCEMENT. We are enhancing this wetland habitat which has developed as a result of park drainage. These works will create a more diverse wetland habitat providing opportunities for invertebrates such as hoverflies which breed in shallow water and for birds and other wildlife to drink and bath [sic], whilst helping to retain water in the park for times of drought, creating more resilient habitats. We are temporarily fencing this area to allow plants to establish.'

There's been another notice for years at the other edge of the Vista where the ground was churned into a swamp by the feet of mobs of parakeet feeders. This says 'GROUND UNDER REPAIR.' No repairs have been done in all the time since the area was fenced off. What both signs mean is 'We can't be bothered to do anything about this, so we'll put up a fence, pretend we have a plan, and go away.'

Great Tit with a titbit

A Great Tit at Mount Gate ate a pine nut I gave it. They take their time to enjoy these delicacies.

The Coal Tit was impatient for its treat.

So was a Jay, which plonked itself down on the path at my feet.

A Carrion Crow was waiting on a stone crown on the edge of the Italian Garden.

A Wren in the Rose Garden was unsettled by the nearness of a Magpie.

Another, at a safe distance, was singing.

A Robin on a tree by the Serpentine Road stared at the camera.

Vinny got a good picture of a Reed Warbler in the Diana fountain reed bed, where there are three pairs.

This fine shot of a Great Spotted Woodpecker collecting insects for its chicks was taken by Ahmet Amerikali at Russia Dock Woodlands.

A Grey Heron was looking for fish in the little stream in the Dell. I had to look the red flowers up, and was surprised to find that they are Japanese Cowslips, Primula japonica. How different from the little yellow wildflowers we are used to.

Coots were fighting near the Serpentine island.

The pair who have returned to the post at Peter Pan after losing their first eggs were maintaining the nest.

The Black Swan's girlfriend isn't chasing him away, but she remains standoffish after their reunion.

The Mute Swan nesting at the outflow turned over her six eggs to keep them evenly warm, then settled down and made herself comfortable.

At the Dell restaurant terrace the female was taking a break and her mate was guarding the eggs.

I could only see two through the barrier but it's likely that more were hidden.

A Holly Blue butterfly perched on a garlic mustard flower.