First sight of a heron chick

One of Grey Herons in the nest at the east end of the island was preening, and so was its chick, which caused it to put its head over the edge of the nest for a moment. There may well be more than one chick: herons generally have two or three, but they don't all hatch at once and younger ones can appear later.

Another look at the chick.

The heron in the upper nest was standing guard as usual, but there was still nothing to see. We know that there is at least one chick here, and I heard it yesterday, but it won't be visible over the edge of the high nest till it's grown considerably.

A heron fished at the small waterfall in the Dell, seen from upstream where you can get a restricted view through the trees.

A Great Crested Grebe was fishing in the Long Water under the Italian Garden.

I watched it for a while but it didn't catch anything. The Cormorants have eaten just about everything in this area, which they fished intensively for several months. Grebes can always cope, eating small fish that Cormorants don't bother with, but let's hope they don't try to nest till later in the year when the fish population has recovered.

The odd trio of ducks were in the Italian Garden, with a Gadwall drake apparently more attached to the female Mallard than the Mallard drake is.

A young Herring Gull played with the seed of an Indian horse chestnut, which is rounder than a normal British conker and rolls well. Gulls love things that roll, and it played with the seed for several minutes.

A Pied Wagtail ran around the edge of the Round Pond.

There were several Jackdaws in the Diana fountain enclosure, not a place where I've seen them before but a good hunting ground for worms. As the Jackdaw population grows they are spreading into new areas.

As usual the Jays were waiting by the Italian Garden.

A Wood Pigeon perched in a cabbage palm, one of the subtropical species planted in the Dell. Cabbage palms grow quite well in the British climate, and even seed themselves when birds eat the fruit and drop the seeds in random places.

A Great Tit had a background of brown leaves in a young oak behind the Albert Memorial. Oaks and beeches keep their dead leaves over the winter when they are young, but start dropping them when they mature.

A Coal Tit sheltered from the morning drizzle under the big leaf of a Magnolia grandiflora at Mount Gate.

Both the Robins were in a dogwood bush, being reasonably civil to each other.

Aconites have come out among the shrubs.

The Robin at the bridge was in a holly tree, waiting impatiently to be fed.

Progress with the herons

The new Grey Heron chick in the nest at the east end of the island could be heard more clearly today clattering its bill, begging to be fed. It was also slightly more visible.

The parent who left the nest flew down to the boat hire platform to do a bit of fishing.

There was also the sound of a chick from the upper nest, but nothing could be seen.

Mark Williams sent a picture of a heron in St James's Park about to swallow a huge chunk of Red Leicester cheese he had given it.

Two Cormorants posed under the Italian Garden.

Pigeon Eater, now in his smart summer plumage, knows he is the best looking gull in the park and is careful to keep himself immaculate.

The Czech Black-Headed Gull, who is king of his patch on the other side of the lake, was striding around shooing off the other gulls.

There are still no Redwings on the Parade Ground. A Jackdaw called as it looked for worms in the mud. It was probably summoning more to share the feast. They are social birds.

A pair of Egyptian Geese stood together on one of the surviving patches of grass.

I hadn't see the Robins in the Flower Walk by Queen's Gate for several days, but today the one from the north side of the path came out to be fed.

A Coal Tit followed me from there up to the Round Pond ...

... where morning sunshine brought the female Little Owl out on to her usual horse chestnut tree.

At Mount Gate one of the Coal Tit pair ...

... and several Blue Tits came out of the bushes.

The female Chaffinch at the bridge was also waiting.

A Starling shone in the sunlight on a table at the Lido restaurant.

A Wood Pigeon near Peter Pan was lurching about in a patch of ivy trying to find the last uneaten berries.

The Dell is carpeted with snowdrops.

Good news from the Grey Herons

An incredible 40 days since they started sitting, the Grey Herons on the nest at the east end of the island have a chick. The normal incubation time is 25 to 26 days, but herons start sitting as soon as they have one egg so chicks hatch at intervals. I'd guess this one is a week old, but there has been no sound from it until today, when it made a faint clacking with its bill -- too faint for the microphone to register. The other parent flew in to admire it. You can just see the chick moving under the bird on the right.

It's circled in this still picture.

More good news: there was a pair in the nest at the west end, for the first time in weeks.

Only the continued presence of an adult shows that anything is happening in the upper nest where we know at least one chick hatched some weeks ago. But heron nests are like that: you give up hope and then they surprise you.

A Cormorant was reflected in the calm water under the Italian Garden.

It went fishing, and a heron hunting in the reeds glared resentfully at it because it was scaring the fish.

Pigeon Eater had eaten all he wanted from his latest victim and flown away, leaving another Lesser Black-Backed Gull to peck at the scanty remains.

There are still no Redwings on the Parade Ground. All I could see, apart from the ubiquitous Starlings, Wood Pigeons and various gulls, was a distant female Blackbird.

One of the Coal Tits in the Rose Garden looked down from the lime hedge before it flew to my hand.

A Blue Tit ...

... and a Robin were also waiting. This Robin was quite close to another with no sign of conflict. Mates are beginning to come together after their long separation.

A Blue Tit came out in the wintersweet bush at Mount Gate.

In the Flower Walk a Robin perched in the peculiar twigs of the corkscrew hazel bush.

The usual male Chaffinch was in a budding magnolia nearby.

His mate appeared later when I went past the Round Pond ...

... where there was a large crowd of Jackdaws eager for peanuts.

A tree is slowly engulfing the railings at the Triangle.

No shortage of customers

Another day of rain with intervals of drizzle didn't put off the small birds: quite the opposite. I was chased by a horde of Great Tits, with a few Blue Tits and Coal Tits, all the way from Queen's Gate to the bridge. You only had to stop in front of a bush for them to collect. This is the paperbush in the Flower Walk ...

... and this is the corkscrew hazel just along the path.

The female Chaffinch was at the bridge again, wanting pine nuts but hard to feed. You have to put them on the bridge parapet, but the Feral Pigeons quickly notice this and barge in.

The other Chaffinches are easier, because the pair that appear in various parts of Kensington Gardens like to catch pine nuts thrown in the air, and the ones in the Rose Garden choose an otherwise unoccupied bit of flower bed to make their appeals.

The Blue Tit in the Rose Garden who has a permanently raised crest was one of the first to come for food before the shrubbery was destroyed. Now there are half a dozen of them.

The Robin near the Henry Moore sculpture can be depended on to appear.

So can several Jays, this one in the next tree ...

... and these two in the birches between Peter Pan and the Italian Garden.

The ruins of the Parade Ground were full of Starlings looking for worms. So far the Redwings haven't turned up, but there are some in Kensington Gardens so they should be along soon.

A pair of pigeons were clearly in love.

A Grey Heron on the Long Water was examining the shore, no doubt hoping to see a rat.

The heron fishing at the boathouse paused to have a drink.

The heron in the nest at the west end of the island, usually seen standing, was sitting down. I'm pretty sure it was just resting its legs and not sitting on eggs. There was a second heron with it just once several weeks ago, but no other sign of pairing or courtship.

The one in the upper nest was fussing around. There's no way of finding out what's going on in that high place: we just have to wait and see.

Rain was not going to stop the Black-Headed Gull on the landing stage from guarding his territory. The only place where raindrops are clinging to him is on his wingtips, perhaps because the ends of the feathers get frayed and slightly fuzzy.

The Coots that nest on the wire baskets by the bridge have let their nest fall to pieces but are still occupying the remains. No doubt they will rebuild it when spring comes.

The six teenage Mute Swans were together on the gravel strip under the Henry Moore sculpture, with their parents not far away.

Their parents are not yet showing any interest in the nesting island, but as soon as they do the youngsters will get the push, a terrible shock for these pampered creatures.

It brightened up slightly later, though the drizzle never stopped. A pair of Shovellers revolved endlessly together on the Round Pond. They don't seem to get dizzy.