Busy Wren

A Wren jumped about in a flower bed by the Lido catching midges.

Feral Pigeons in the Flower Walk dug among the wood chips laid in an attempt to eradicate bindweed. If you look closely at the one on the left you can see that it was finding small white creatures, evidently insect larvae.

One of the Coal Tits came out to take a pine nut. Both of the pair here are confident enough to come to my hand.

The one in the Dell has got slightly less shy, but it has to wait for the Great Tits to collect their share ...

... before it will venture out.

Starlings on the umbrellas at the Lido shone in the sunlight.

A Grey Heron kept a lookout from a treetop at the Triangle.

Pigeon Eater surveyed his territory from the roof of the Dell restaurant.

At a safe distance there was a crowd of young Herring Gulls, one eating a dribble of strawberry ice cream ...

... and another playing with a peculiar pink plastic toy ...

... but most of them perched on moored boats or flying around. I'm fairly sure that the high proportion of young gulls is due to the success of a large nesting colony on roofs in Paddington.

The Great Crested Grebe chicks from the east end of the island were playing together while they waited for a parent to arrive with a fish.

All the perches on the island were taken by Cormorants, including those in their favourite dead tree, so this one had to use the top of another tree. I don't know how these ungainly birds manage to land on such thin branches, and I still haven't caught one in the act.

The Coot on the post at Peter Pan was unmoved by a Cormorant ...

... but when the rival pair passed by there was a brisk fight.

A Mute Swan near the bridge enjoyed a furious wash.

There are still some Migrant Hawker dragonflies. This one was in the reeds by the bridge.

A Small White butterfly fed on a verbena flower in the Rose Garden.

A glimpse of a Little Owl

Warm sunshine brought out a Little Owl in Hyde Park. The young ones are now looking completely adult.

It took a quarter of an hour playing hide and seek with the Coal Tit in the Dell before it would let itself be photographed.

Meanwhile a Great Tit ...

... and a Blue Tit were easier to capture.

Ahmet Amerikali got the Coal Tit in the Rose Garden, another very tricky subject.

A Chiffchaff flitted about in a lime tree on Buck Hill.

A Wren lurked in the shadows in a holly near Mount Gate.

The Robin at Mount Gate waited patiently for its daily pine nuts ...

... and so did the one near the Henry Moore sculpture.

There was another in the western stretch of the Flower Walk, still very shy and probably one of this year's birds.

Starlings gathered on an umbrella at the Lido restaurant.

A Grey Wagtail used the rocks beside the stream in the Dell as a hunting station to catch midges flying over the water.

A young Herring Gull investgated a sweet packet, unfortunately empty.

The dominant Black-Headed Gull on the landing stage had chased off all his rivals and rested comfortably on the planking.

Two Great Crested Grebe chicks played at fishing together on the edge of the Serpentine. They may have been catching some small creatures. Anyway, they are building the skills they will need when they become independent.

Two Moorhens enjoyed the fallen poplar at Peter Pan.

Another good picture by Ahmet: a Cormorant flying over the Serpentine.

A Common Carder bee climbed in and out of Variegated Monkshood flowers in the Rose Garden.

Peregrine v crow

The male Peregrine, in his usual place on the barracks tower, was being harassed by a couple of Carrion Crows.

He went for one of them, which hastily fled around the corner of the building. Sorry about the blurred picture -- I was using quite a long exposure because it was a dim day.

The he returned to his perch.

The Long-Tailed Tits are in their large winter flocks, and were passing through the treetops beside the Long Water.

The Coal Tit in the Dell didn't turn up today, but a pair of Great Tits in the big yew tree were glad to come down for pine nuts.

This Dunnock is often seen foraging beside the path by the Buck Hill shelter and has got quite used to humans passing by, and even pointing cameras at it.

It started to drizzle in the early afternoon, and a Robin in the Rose Garden was not looking pleased about it.

By the time I went home it was raining seriously, but the Robin at Mount Gate still came out for his pine nuts.

Pigeon Eater was having a second helping from a Feral Pigeon he had killed earlier when his offspring started pestering him severely. I thought he was about to bash it, but he relented and allowed the creature to have a share.

A young Black-Headed Gull played with a dead leaf.

A Grey Heron stepped daintily across the small waterfall in the Dell.

The Great Crested Grebe chick from the nest by the bridge stared curiously at the camera.

The two from the west end of the island were following their father.

The two from the east end were fishing together in a very determined way. I think they're beginning to catch the occasional small fish.

A young Moorhen wandered through the irises in the Italian Garden.

There are a lot of Pochards on the Long Water. I counted 73 visible from one place at the Vista, and there were more at the north end of the lake.

This big blond male Egyptian Goose, seen here with his mate, seems to be the boss of the Egyptians on the Serpentine.

In the Rose Garden a Common Wasp was exploring the pompom dahlias, but I don't think any insect could extract nectar from these tight flowers.

More Grey Wagtails

There are now at least three Grey Wagtails in the park. This young one was hunting in the Dell ...

... while Ahmet Amerikali was photographing the pair in the Italian Garden.

Ahmet also found a young Green Woodpecker, whose parents are often heard calling on Buck Hill ...

... and a Chiffchaff at the foot of the hill.

The Coal Tit in the Dell looked down from the yew tree. It has learnt that the sooner it allows itself to be photographed, the sooner it will get a treat of pine nuts laid on the railings.

A Blue Tit waited on a rose bush in the Rose Garden.

Starlings ran around in the enclosure of the Diana fountain looking for insects. What they were mostly finding was probably wirewoms, which are not worms but the long thin larvae of the click beetle which eat the roots of plants.

Pigeon Eater was in his usual place near the Dell restuarant looking for his next victim on the shore.

The single Grey Heron was again in the nest at the west end of the island.

A dramatic picture from Ahmet: a Cormorant caught a ruffe under the Italian Garden.

Cormorants crowded on to a fallen poplar in the Long Water. They haven't yet occupied the newly fallen tree, as it still has leaves on it ...

... but a Moorhen found this a convenient place to wash.

A Great Crested Grebe chick took hasty avoiding action as one of the boat hire people backed a churning outboard motor at it without looking. I do miss the considerate people of Bluebird Boats, who cared for the birds on the Serpentine.

A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee browsed on Michaelmas daisies in the Rose Garden.

A Honeybee worker with a full load of pollen few over the ivy at the back of the Lido ...

... and a very small hoverfly fed on a flower. I think it's a Lesser Banded Hoverfly, Syrphus vitripennis, but it could be a Common Banded, S. ribesii.