Mallard ducklings

A Mallard has eleven new ducklings near the bridge. If she can stay close to the bridge some of them have a chance of survival, as has happened before. But the big gulls are already watching.

A pair of Egyptian Geese nesting in a tree on Buck Hill have produced seven goslings, which their mother was leading around in the grass. She will take them down to the Long Water soon, where there is much better cover than on the open Serpentine, so again some of them have a reasonable chance.

The male Egyptian at the Henry Moore sculpture was alone yet again. Can his poor mate really be trying to nest for the fouth time this year? A Jackdaw stared at him as he reclined on top of the sculpture.

The pair of Canada Geese that used to nest on the raft in the Long Water have nowhere to go now, and are wandering around restlessly. They were coming down off Buck Hill into the Italian Garden.

The Gadwall drake and female Mallard were together in a fountain pool, with the male Mallard on the other side. He has been keeping at a safe distance since the Gadwall beat him up.

A Coot was ripping off iris leaves for the nest. Coots also drag up the iris corms and scatter them over the pools. It's remarkable that any of the plants survive their mania for destruction.

A Coot chick wandered around on the Mute Swans' nesting island. The swans never seem to bother them. Someone suggested to me that the swans tolerate Coots nesting on their island because these provide a useful warning of danger, but I wonder whether a swan is capable of thinking of that.

Now both of the swans east at the Lido are lying obstinately on the path, with a safe nesting place just out of the left side of the picture completely ignored. The single half-grown Egyptian gosling is in the background.

Two of the three young Grey Herons from the third nest were climbing around in the top of their tree. The heron at the bottom is also young, but from an earlier brood.

The heron at the bridge pointedly ignored a Carrion Crow perching on its favourite handrail.  This was sensible, as if it had annoyed the crow it would have been mercilessly persecuted. Crows love tormenting herons.

The Little Owl at the Round Pond was in her usual lime tree.

On the hill below the pond a Starling was collecting insects for its nestlings.

Only one of the Robins at Mount Gate was out, but we know now that they have chicks and look forward to seeing them.

In the Rose Garden the Blue Tit with the tatty head feathers was so insistent that it was impossible to photograph, flying around and landing on the camera in its eagerness to be fed. So here is its mate, also impatient but prepared to perch on a stem for a couple of seconds.

A Great Tit waited in the pink-flowered hawthorn tree.

A pair of Long-Tailed Tits were hunting on a winged elm tree by the Steiner bench.

Buttercups have come out beside the Long Water.

The enormous old ash tree on the corner of the Dell makes humans look as puny as ants.