Destruction in the Rose Garden

A miserable sight in the Rose Garden: the shrubbery which runs all along the north side is being completely destroyed and the roots of all the shrubs grubbed up with a digger. This was the home of Blackbirds, Song Thrushes, Chaffinches, Robins, Dunnocks and Great, Blue and Coal Tits, with visiting Great Spotted Woodpeckers and Jays.

The small birds were milling around distractedly with their territory wrecked. They were also clearly very hungry, as they came out of the ruins to be given pine nuts and ate a great many. A Coal Tit flew down from a tree ...

... and perched on an isolated bramble stem, quite forgetting its normal fear.

All we can do is hope that they find a new place to live. All the surviving shrubberies are already the territories of other birds, so there will be a struggle and some of them will die.

Apparently the park management wants this area to be lawn. The grass won't grow properly under the trees and will be patchy with moss and bare ground. These people behind desks don't care a damn for the park wildlife. They just want everything to be tidy.

At least the birds that live in the middle of the garden in the borders and rose beds are unaffected, such as this Robin.

Ground is also being cleared in the woodland at the foot of Buck Hill, but this is never more than partial and won't affect the birds much, though the loss of a bramble patch across the path where Chiffchaffs and Long-Tailed Tits used to nest is sad. The usual Robin came out to be fed ...

... and a Dunnock on a bit of cleared ground was turning over fallen leaves, looking for insects and larvae. It found something very small at the end of this video.

The male Egyptian Goose, at a loose end while his mate is nesting, was wandering around Buck Hill.

I was followed around the Long Water by several Jays. This one on the railings near Peter Pan had just taken a peanut but wanted another right away.

The usual Kensington Gardens Chaffinch followed me from the Flower Walk to the Round Pond.

A Grey Heron in a treetop on the island struggled to break off twigs for its nest. Their beaks are not suitable for the task but they somehow manage to build very large nests.

This was probably one of the parents of the new chicks. The other parent was in the same place as in yesterday's picture, in a tree overlooking the nest.

In the nest at the east end of the island a heron turned over the eggs and settled down on them. They should hatch soon.

Last year two Common Gulls were competing for a place on a No Swimming sign by the Lido restaurant. One had yellow legs, the other whitish grey legs. It looks as if the same two are back and still doing it, as there was a Common Gull with pale legs under this one on the sign.

The Czech Black-Headed Gull is secure in his ownership of the sign on the other side, knocking off any other gulls that perch there.

A Cormorant was fishing along the edge of the reed bed east of the Lido.

Most of the Cormorants have now left, but there were some on a fallen Lombardy poplar in the Long Water by the Vista. Most of the Pochards have also gone, but there were still a few in the water nearby.

On the other side of the Vista a Coot came over to bully the Moorhen family in their bush.

The single teenage Mute Swan from the Serpentine island was cruising up the lake with its mother. It stopped to pick up a strand of algae and she gave it a mild nudge to get it moving again. All the young swans will be tolerated by their parents until the nesting season is under way.

A sunset picture from the Round Pond, with a Common Gull on a buoy.