Sixteen little Egyptians

Out on the Serpentine for the first time today, a pair of Egyptian Geese with no fewer than 16 goslings. This is the largest number of goslings I've ever known Egyptians to have.

On the other side of the lake the lone survivor is looking fit and well. It must be large enough now to be safe from getting snatched by a Herring Gull.

The male Egyptian by the Henry Moore sculpture was alone again. It looks as if his long-suffering mate is nesting up a tree for the third time this year.

The Egyptian pair in the Italian Garden wandered across the marble fountain under the gaze of a carved Triton and a fishing Grey Heron.

The Coots nesting in the irises have hatched at least six chicks -- it's hard to count them among the leaves.

There were no Cormorants on the Long Water to harry the nest on the post at Peter Pan, but there were a couple of Lesser Black-Backed Gulls farther along the posts ready to swoop them moment they got a chance.

The chicks from the other nest here are better protected by overhanging bushes.

A Moorhen was doing yoga on a fallen branch.

Great Crested Grebes are not at all good at nest building. Their attempts to make nests against the wire baskets surrounding the island never succeed unless they can steal a ready-built nest from Coots, which are excellent builders and can make a nest here with ease.

The small birds in Southwark Park seem to be further advanced in their nesting than ours, and Ahmet Amerikali got pictures of three of them bringing insects to their chicks: a Grey Wagtail ...

... a Robin ...

... and a Blackbird.

He also took a fine picture of a Cetti's Warbler in Battersea Park ...

... and has found where our own Cetti's on the Long Water is nesting, in bushes north of Peter Pan. I saw it visiting the nest here but it's an almost impossible place for photographs.

The first bird I saw when I came into the park was a Goldcrest in the tall cedar where the path from Queen's Gate crosses the Flower Walk.

The Robins at Mount Gate came out to collect their daily pine nuts. They are together but show no sign of nesting yet.

The Little Owl at the Round Pond was well hidden in her usual horse chestnut tree and it took some time to find her.

The male Blackbird in the Rose Garden was doing his best to be heard over the din of Bluetooth speakers making loud thumping noises for the rollerbladers. If I could go back in time and prevent something from being invented, it would be the loudspeaker, a curse of our times.

A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee vsisited the cercis blossom by the Huntress fountain.