Robin gets a worm

A Robin hauled a worm out of the leaf litter near the Buck Hill shelter. It flew away, but would return before the worm had had a chance to dig itself in and peck it into bite-sized pieces.

One of the Robins at Mount Gate waited expectantly on the railings.

A Jay on a branch above was also looking hopeful ...

... as were a Carrion Crow on one of the giant flower pots at the Dell restaurant ...

... and a Blue Tit in the Rose Garden.

Other people are now feeding the Coal Tits in the Dell, which now turn up as soon as you stand by the railings.

The ever hungry male Chaffinch, who flies all over Kensington Gardens, was on the east lawn at the Albert Memorial, where he ate several pine nuts.

A Blackbird dug in the leaves under a chestnut tree by the leaf yard.

Two Pied Wagtails hunted insects in the carefully maintained turf around the Diana fountain. There had been four, but I was alerted to their presence by two of them taking off and tweeting loudly as they flew across the lake.

A Wren was singing in a ceanothus bush at the edge of the enclosure, and came into sight just long enough for one hasty photograph.

Most of the Black-Headed Gulls have now gone off to their breeding grounds, but the Czech visitor has not yet left for the lake at Hobšovice, a few miles northwest of Prague, where he was hatched in 2021.

The young Grey Herons in the nest at the east end of the island exchanged stares with an adult in the other nest. It may have been one of their parents: when I had got round to the other side of the lake there was a loud clattering from that direction. Both these nests were successfully used for breeding last year.

A Coot at the east end of the Serpentine tried to haul a twig to a nest in the reed bed, but this was firmly attached to a submerged branch and wouldn't come. It had to give up.

Just as you thought the Coots nesting in the Italian Garden were settled in one spot they decided they liked another place better and have built another nest, I think their fourth this year.

The Mute Swan nest site in the reeds east of the Lido has been trampled, and it seems that a pair is planning to nest there. A female swan, 4FYI, was hanging around the entrance.

The Egyptian Geese on the Serpentine have now lost their last gosling, but the pair with nine on the Round Pond still have them all.

More gravel is being added to the strip in the pond, probably not to enlarge it but because the original gravel has settled and the strip has shrunk. The fresh surface will soon be as foul and stinking as ever, but at least the geese like it.