Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery again

The male Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery looked down from the broken top of the old chestnut tree where the pair has nested in previous years. They may have to find another place this year, as the Carrion Crows seem set to reuse their last year's nest in this tree. He is very small even by the standards of male Little Owls, but has the most tremendous eyebrows.

There seem to be more Pied Wagtails. Perhaps some have been driven south by the cold weather. This is one of two on the north shore of the Serpentine ...

... and there were also two on the Vista. One reached down ...

... and came up with a small larva.

Sunlit Starlings hunted insects by the leaf yard until put to flight by a passing dog.

The familiar Robin was waiting here, though we had trouble with divebombing Starlings. You simply can't start feeding these, as they will never leave you alone if you do.

The Robin in the Rose Garden stared fiercely at the camera which was delaying delivery of his pine nuts.

Both the Coal Tits were waiting ...

... and so was one in the Dell, looking impatient.

The Long-Tailed Tits were busy at the northwest corner of the bridge.

At the other end of the bridge there was a female Chaffinch I don't think I've seen before, rather dark in colour. This is definitely not the mate of the male that chases me around Kensington Gardens.

A Carrion Crow had been bathing in the marble fountain in the Italian Garden.

A pair of Magpies perched together in a nearby tree ...

... and three Jays followed me down the east side of the Long Water.

There is a second pair of Coots nesting in the Italian Garden. The irises in the planters are growing up fast and will soon give both nests good cover, though Coots do trend to rip up the plants around their nests.

The Mandarin drake was back again, standing uner the small willow at the corner of the Triangle to avoid being disturbed by passers by. While some of them may give him food, his fantastic plumage gets him more attention than he likes.

A squirrel sniffed for bulbs in a flower bed in the Rose Garden, founds a small one, and ate it. Quite a lot of bulbs are poisonous. I wonder if they can distinguish these, or do they just have a high resistance?

The Albert Memorial was sunlit against a stormy sky.