A treat for a Coal Tit

Generally when you give a pine nut to a Coal Tit it takes it away to hide and eat later, but this one in the Rose Garden decided to have it at once. Coal Tits like to live in the stone pines that produce these seeds, so they are a favourite food.

There were plenty more takers here: the other Coal Tit with a Blue Tit ...

... another Blue Tit with a Great Tit ...

... and the Robin in the hawthorn.

The day wouldn't be complete without a visit from the Robin at Mount Gate.

Blackbirds are constantly seen lurking at the back of the bushes east of the Lido, where there are several blackthorns providing abundant sloes for them. I think they nested here earlier, as I have seen several together on the ground ...

... but this old nest seems too big and twiggy for a Blackbird, though smaller than a typical Magpie nest.

Rose-Ringed Parakeets foraged on a barren patch near the Queen's Temple. Usually when they're on the ground they're eating dandelion leaves, but I couldn't see what the attraction was here.

Another Common Gull has arrived at the Lido, a little one hardly larger than the Black-Headed Gulls either side of it.

The first Common Gull was right at the other end of the swimming area and taking no notice of it.

Most of the Common Gulls in the park congregate at the Round Pond, and here they are quite social birds.

Pigeon Eater had a background of floating leaves by the Dell restaurant.

A fallen Lombardy poplar at the Peter Pan waterfront has become a favourite hangout for the remaining Cormorants on the Long Water.

The single Great Crested Grebe chick from the nest at the bridge is almost completely grown up and only retains faint traces of its juvenile stripes.

The one at the east end of the lake is less advanced, but both are now fishing for themselves and only pestering their parents occasionally.

A Grey Heron in the Dell was looking for fish on the upper side of the small waterfall.

If the fish in the top half of the small stream are swept over the fall they can't get back, and indeed there do seem to be more fish on the downstream side. Here they have to avoid going down the drain to the Thames, or into the pump that powers the top cascade of the big waterfall. Nevertheless, fish seem to abound in this awkward habitat.

Some autumn colour: a red sweetgum by the Diana fountain, with a yellow poplar on the other side of the lake ...

... a Japanese maple by the bridge ...

... and a clump of stinking iris by the Vista.

Autumn colour on a grey day

Even the most ordinary pictures are lifted by a background of bright autumn leaves. A Great Tit perched in a poplar by the Long Water.

One of a pair of Coal Tits at the bridge, photographed by Ahmet Amerikali.

The familiar Robin appeared in his usual bush in the Rose Garden ...

... and the one at Mount Gate came out from the bushes when called, looking expectant.

A Jackdaw at the Triangle appealed for a peanut. It seems extraordinary now that when they returned to the park a few years ago you couldn't get within fifty yards of them.

A Magpie posed on the peculiar twigs of a winged elm.

A young Herring Gull on the Serpentine made off with a conker.

Two Common Gulls on the gravel strip at the Round Pond, filmed yesterday in a sunny spell. Despite the name there are never many of these, and they trickle in one by one in late autumn and leave early.

The Grey Heron at the Lido caught a small perch: another picture by Ahmet.

A Great Crested Grebe examined a fallen leaf.

A slightly better picture of the huge Canada Goose barging another out of the way by the boathouses. Perhaps you need a video to give a proper impression of his size.

The Egyptian pair in the Italian Garden stood in front of what was originally a clump of irises, but has now been almost completely taken over by common reed and reed mace. Evidently the seeds were brought in stuck to the feet of the Coots nesting there. Another iris clump has been invaded by great willowherb.

A Tufted drake newly in his smart breeding plumage preened his feathers on the Serpentine.

On a drizzly day I didn't expect to see any bees, but there was a Common Carder on the patch of lavender at the southeast corner of the Serpentine ...

... and a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee on the bog sage at the Diana fountain.

The enormous Caucasian elm in the Rose Garden is on the turn.

Hydro Cleansing marked Hallowe'en by sending one of their more ghoulish lorries to clear a blocked drain.

Rattling crow

It was a sunny morning though the weather turned nasty later. The Albert Memorial shone in its avenue of plane trees.

Carrion Crows rattle when annoyed, and these two near the Round Pond were clearly getting on each other's nerves. A brief brawl erupted.

A pair in Queen's Gate were more peacefully employed in ripping up some binbags.

In the Rose Garden a bush with abundant rose hips saw a good turnout: a Coal Tit ...

... a Blue Tit ...

... and a singing Robin.

The Robin at the southwest corner of the bridge shouted angrily at a Magpie.

Ahmet Amerikali found another Cetti's Warbler at the place north of Peter Pan where they nested earlier this year.

A Blackbird in the holly tree above took a break from eating berries.

Several Pied Wagtails were hunting by the Round Pond. This one is female, with a grey back.

The Common Gull at the Lido, still alone, posed for its portrait.

Cormorants are no longer crowded on the electric boat platform, and the young Grey Heron can return to its usual fishing spot.

A Cormorant looking for small fish on the ramp for swimmers at the Lido was completely unfazed by being filmed at close quarters.

The narrow passage under the bridge is busy with birds going through. A young Great Crested Grebe swimming one way passed two young Mute Swans coming in the other direction.

The swan family inspected the new reed bed being built by the bridge. They won't be able to trash the reeds, as these will be protected by a cage made of reinforcing bar and covered with extra tough plastic mesh.

The Shoveller drakes are very slow getting into their breeding plumage but this one is almost there. He overtook a female Tufted Duck.

I was disappointed by this picture of the biggest Canada Goose in the park, who must weigh at least 14 pounds and has a deep bass honk. He's on the right here with his smaller mate, but the perspective reduces the difference in size.

In the North Flower Walk a medlar tree has plentiful fruit.

It's inedible until it has gone soft and brown, a process known as bletting. Then you can make it into a jelly similar to the quince jelly that trendy folk eat with cheese, but with a different and interesting flavour. An old name for this is medlar cheese and my great-aunt used to make it.

Rainy day

It rained almost continuously. The small birds were hungry and flocked out from shelter to collect pine nuts. The familiar Robin in the Rose Garden waited impatiently on a dripping teasel.

The male Chaffinch ...

... was with his mate, whom I haven't seen for some time. I could only get a hasty shot of her in the top of the catalpa tree.

There were several Blue Tits ...

... and one of the Coal Tits followed me round the garden, taking pine nuts all the way, caching them, and returning at once for more.

A Great Tit perched in the red leaves of a euonymus bush by the bridge.

Samuel Levy was in the park early this morning and saw two Rock Pipits on the Serpentine, rare visitors here. I couldn't find them.

The Peregrines on the Knightsbridge Barracks tower are now spending most of their time elsewhere, and Carrion Crows have moved in to fly around and perch on the complicated antennae on the top.

A bit of rain doesn't put Pigeon Eater off his hunting or his meals.

Someone dining under the canopy of the Dell resturant had unwisely thrown a crust to a passing Black-Headed Gull, and the result was chaos.

More Cormorants had left, leaving the fallen poplar at the Vista free for Black-Headed Gulls.

The Grey Heron at the Lido can now fish on the ramp undisturbed.

Rain brings Moorhens into the Italian Garden to look for stranded larvae in the joints of the paving.

Several Great Crested Grebes have arrived on the Serpentine, perhaps six though it's hard to separate them from the residents. Here are three, including a teenager already able to fly.

One of the resident grebes from the east end of the lake advanced on them threateningly, making territorial noises.

The young Egyptian Goose is walking much better, though still with a slight limp.

The single young Mute Swan is now usually seen with its father, who is determined to protect it from the killer swan. So far I haven't seen a clash.

The Black Swan on the Round Pond saw some people who might feed him, and approaached hopefully. He was not disappointed.

The Victorian neo-Gothic spire of Spire House in the Bayswater Road could be seen above the autumn leaves. 

Yes, I was holding the camera straight and it does lean to the west. This is the remnant of the former Christ Church, Lancaster Gate, built in 1855 to the plans of F. & H. Francis, but deconsecrated in 1977 and partly demolished. A block of flats built in 1983 now occupies the site of the nave, and it may be the only modern building to have flying buttresses. You can see it here.

The caption to the picture includes the sad note: 'The tall spire is visible from a considerable distance ... and is often mistaken for the stylistically similar spire of St Matthew's, Bayswater (farther to the west) -- to the sadness and annoyance of the current incumbent of St Matthew's, who sees in Spire House a melancholy symbol of the decline of Christianity in Britain.'