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.