Robins together in the Rose Garden

The Robin pair in the Rose Garden were together in a bush, with the female begging her mate to feed her. She will need him to do this when she's nesting. I gave him a pine nut, but the pair retreated into the back of the bush and I didn't get a picture of the exchange.

The male Blackbird was singing strongly, well hidden in a holly tree. He has to raise his voice as the Rose Garden is a noisy place, with competition from police sirens and helicopters, billionaires' sons roaring around in Ferraris from the showroom in Knightsbridge, and loud dreary rap from the Bluetooth speakers of the skaters in the Serpentine Road.

The Blackbird from the Dell was out on the lawn, hopping around in the grass looking for insects and worms.

The Green Woodpecker on Buck Hill called from a tree, as usual hard to see among the twigs but I finally got a picture of it preening.

While going round the tree for a clear shot I found a single Long-Tailed Tit ...

... and a Jay.

The wind had dropped, and the female Little Owl at the Round Pond was out in the horse chestnut tree.

The third brood of Grey Heron chicks on the island were frantically begging their parent to feed them.

One of the second brood was down on the shore of the island ...

... and the other two were back in the nest.

The young heron from last year was on the edge of the Dell stream, picking up a stick. The nesting instinct seems to set in early.

The pair of Mandarins cruised across the Vista ...

... and there was a single drake by the boathouses. You can see that the pattern of white stripes on his side is different.

A few minutes later I saw a pair near the island, but I'm pretty sure it was the first pair which had flown over from the Long Water.

The odd couple of the Gadwall drake and female Mallard were side by side in the Italian Garden. The spare Mallard drake was hanging around out of shot. He doesn't have much of a time, but the female has made her choice and there's nothing he can do about it.

The last Egyptian gosling on the Serpentine has made it through another day.

The male by the Henry Moore sculpture was sitting in the shade while his mate was nesting in a tree -- I haven't found where this is, as the dead tree they used in the past is now decayed and they have abandoned it. 

The Coots nesting on the Mute Swans' island in the Long Water were fussing around together on the edge. They are never molested by the belligerent swans, maybe because these have learnt that an angry Coot is a nuisance even if not a threat.

A male Hairy-Footed Flower Bee was making the most of the fading wallflowers in the Rose Garden.

Hybrid duck

An interesting duck was wandering on the shore by the boathouses, where it was photographed by Jon Ferguson. It's a Mallard x Gadwall hybrid.

The couple of the Gadwall drake and the female Mallard were in the Italian Garden as usual, with the spare Mallard drake hanging around. Will there be more of these hybrids?

The Mandarin pair were feeding on the edge of the Serpentine.

Tufted Ducks rested on the collapsed willow at the corner of the bridge.

The last surviving Egyptian gosling on the Serpentine is now growing fast, but it's still very far from being out of danger.

The Coots' nest on the submerged wire basket at the bridge is being rapidly enlarged.

One of the young Grey Herons from the east end of the island was on the shore under the nest, accompanied by two adults which are probably its parents.

Ahmet Amerikali found a male Blackcap near the Buck Hill shelter, the first one seen in the park this year. In past years we have had a few Blackcaps overwintering, but I didn't see any this winter and this one is almost certainly a recently arrived migrant.

So are the Chiffchaffs, of which there are plenty now. I saw this one singing in a tall tree when I went to look, unsuccessfully, for the Blackcap.

There was also a Long-Tailed Tit picking cobwebs off a tree trunk.

Snakeshead Fritillaries have come out on the ground below. I've never seen a white one here before.

Another good picture from Ahmet, a Wren singing near the Diana fountain.

Both the Coal Tits in the Dell came to collect pine nuts from the railings.

Tinúviel sent some fine pictures from Los Barruecos, a national park near Cáceres in Extremadura centred on some spectacular granite outcrops, with artificial lakes added so that it has become a bird reserve. Storks nest here on platforms provided for them.

One nest has a colony of Spanish Sparrows in its base.

There was a pair of Stonechats. This is the male ...

... and this is the female, perched on a holm oak twig.

Back to Hyde Park for a video of a Dark-Edged Bee Fly drinking nectar from a grape hyacinth in the Rose Garden. This peculiar creature, Bombylius major, is a fly, not a bee. It is a parasite of solitary bees, laying its eggs in their nest. Its larva eats the bee's own eggs and grubs.

Male Little Owl at Ranger's Cottage

The male Little Owl at Ranger's Cottage was out in the same lime tree as I had seen the female in a few days ago. It's likely that they will nest in this tree, which has several suitable-looking holes.

A Chiffchaff sang in the top of a tree near the Henry Moore sculpture.

There are now quite a few in the park in addition to the one that has overwintered on the east side of the Long Water, and it seems that there has been a migration. Ahmet Amerikali found one in Southwark Park ...

... and another in the Russia Dock Woodland.

The Blackbird in the Rose Garden was singing strongly over the din of the weekend crowds, but stayed in a place where it was impossible to get a good picture ...

... though it wasn't as awkward as this Great Spotted Woodpecker near the leaf yard, which absolutely refused to come round to the front of the branch. One they see you looking at them they become most evasive.

Someone had thrown a foolishly large piece of baguette to a Lesser Black-Backed Gull on the Serpentine. If the gull can't deal with a morsel immediately there is always a fight and a chase. I'm not in favour of people giving bread to any bird, but at least they might distribute it in bite-sized pieces.

The three young Grey Herons from the nest at the east end of the island were all down and exploring the shore. They are still returning to the nest to be fed. The earlier two young birds are now completely independent.

A heron was standing in the new nest and showed no tendency to sit down. Probably there are no eggs here, and when it was seen sitting a couple of times recently it was just keeping out of the wind which has been quite strong over the past few days.

The small willow tree at the corner of the Trangle is a favourite vantage point.

The two families of Egyptian Geese on the Round Pond, one with eight goslings, the other with five, are very casual about humans and loll around on the path expecting people to walk round them.

The pair on the Serpentine still have their last gosling.

A Mute Swan touched down after a short flight.

The dominant male swan was guarding the nesting island on the Long Water while his mate was off feeding. It seems she already has eggs, which she carefully covers up when she leaves.

A female Mandarin has turned up on the Serpentine to accompany the drake who has been visible recently. Possibly she has been here all along, skulking in the bushes on the Long Water.

A pair of Shovellers crossed the lake at the Vista.

Most of the spring border plants in the Rose Garden are now wilted and due for replacement but the grape hyacinths are still going strong, and attracted a Honeybee ...

... and a Dark-Edged Bee Fly, the first I've seen this year.

A bold Mistle Thrush

Mistle Thrushes are usually very shy but this one near the Flower Walk, which I saw when I was only 30 feet away, stood its ground. It didn't do anything interesting but it was good to see it. There are only a few in the park now.

Goldfinches were twittering in the treetops near the Queen's Temple.

While I was trying to get a good shot a Greenfinch started singing in a nearby tree, though there was nowhere to get a clear view of it.

Several Long-Tailed Tits were also dashing around in the trees.

The pair nesting in the Rose Garden are still busy building their nest. One of them gave me a serious stare.

Half a dozen Blue Tits ...

... and the familiar male Chaffinch were waiting for their daily pine nuts.

A Robin near the leaf yard, usually a regular customer, wasn't interested because it had just caught a midge.

There must be hundreds of thousands of these midges swarming all over the park. This is one on an iron gate at the Lido. I think it's a chironomid midge, but there are hundreds of species in this group and I can't guess further. Fortunately they don't bite.

These are the two young Grey Herons from the first nest, which I hadn't definitely seen since they became independent. They were at the east end of the island ...

... with at least two of the three younger herons in the second nest looking down at them.

The heron in the new nest was sitting again. There's no way of knowing what's going on here.

The pair of Coots at the northeast corner of the bridge, which had been fairly inactive for a while, have now started serious nest building.

The male Mute Swan was guarding his nest site at the end of the Lido resturant terrace. It isn't a good place, but nesting sites for swans are so scarce on the lake that it has to be jealously guarded.

The Egyptian Geese at the Round Pond still have eight of their original nine goslings, a fine achievement in the dangerous park with Herring Gulls and Carrion Crows waiting for a chance to snatch one.

In the Italian Garden the Gadwall drake and his friend the female Mallard were resting in a planter.

Primroses have come out on the grassy bank at the southwest corner of the bridge. These are proper wild primroses, not cultivated polyanthus. They were planted many years ago by an old Australian gardener in the days when gardeners were allowed some initiative. He'd probably be sacked now if the management found out.

He also planted some cowslips here.