The clatter of tiny beaks

I had wrongly supposed that the upper Grey Heron nest in the middle of the island, where a bird had been sitting, was abandoned. It wasn't: the chicks had hatched so no more sitting was needed and the parents could keep an eye on the nest from a neighbouring tree.

You have to listen quite carefully from 15 seconds on in this video to hear the faint clicking of very young Grey Heron chicks clashing their bills in the nest, a signal that they want to be fed. It will get louder as they grow. This is the earliest heron brood I've ever seen in the park. Assuming that the chicks are already three or four days old, the parents would have started incubating the eggs in the first week of December.

There were other signs of early activity. A pair of Mute Swans at the island were mirroring each other's movements and picking up leaves, a sign that they are thinking of nesting. It's very early so they may not be serious yet, but I also saw other pairs displaying to each other.

However, this pair were not the regular island residents. These soon arrived on the scene, with the male climbing with some difficulty over a wire basket, and the intruders were chased off. The male of the island pair is big and tough and the number two swan in the ranking order, the only swan who can keep the killer male at bay.

It can't be much fun being a female Egyptian Goose.

On a wet day, with few people in the park, the Canada Geese felt safe enough to come ashore and crop the rich grass where the site of the Olympic grandstand of 2012 was relaid with expensive sports turf.

More Canadas stood on the landing stage, to the obvious resentment of the Black-Headed Gull who owns the territory.

When it's raining you can see darker trails across the lake. I think these are where a powerboat has passed. Outboard motors are cooled by pumping water through the engine, and when this comes out it's slightly oily.

Wet days are often good for seeing the smaller birds. A Wren was hopping around on a pile of cut undergrowth in the woodland at the foot of Buck Hill.

There was a young male Blackbird in the Rose Garden shrubbery. The resident pair had bred last summer but the young ones soon became as furtive as the adults, and this is the first time I've seen a young Blackbird here since then.

Also present were the Chaffinch pair ...

... one of the Blue Tits ...

... and the Coal Tit, as usual very shy and hard to photograph.

This Coal Tit at Mount Gate is much bolder, and posed obligingly in a wintersweet bush. It knows it will be fed if it stays around.

So does this Blue Tit.

A Jay had already had one peanut but wanted another.

Tom was at Rainham Marshes yesterday when the weather was brighter, and got fine pictures of a male Bearded Tit clinging to a reed ...

... and a very tame Pheasant.