Still mates

After the breeding season is over Robin pairs usually split up, take separate territories, and defend them with singing or if necessary with fighting. But these two in the Rose Garden have somehow remained on good terms.

A Robin in the Flower Walk uttered the high-pitched call which means 'Beware of a predator overhead.' This warning is made, and understood, by all the small songbirds, so that all are alerted.

When the danger had passed -- and I couldn't see what it was, maybe a Sparrowhawk high above -- the next Robin along the path came out on the yew hedge and resumed its song.

The familiar Robin at Mount Gate doesn't sing much. It just comes out on the railings and gives a single tweet to tell me to produce some pine nuts.

A Wren in the Rose Garden hopped about among the plants in a flower bed.

A Blue Tit looked shyly out from a rose bush.

The Coal Tit in the Dell was high in the big yew tree, but it was tempted down by pine nuts on the railings.

A few scraps on a plate at the Lido resturant attracted three Magpies.

A Wood Pigeon washed on the edge of the Serpentine. They have to be careful not to get out of their depth because, unlike the smaller Feral Pigeons, they can't take off when floating in water. They have to row themselves laboriously back to land with the wrist joints of their wings.

Pigeon Eater was on his usual station looking around for his next victim.

One of the Great Crested Grebe chicks east of the island hurried to take a fish.

At the other end of the island a Cormorant flapped on a dead branch.

Fourteen crowded on to the fallen poplar at the Vista.

The young Mute Swans were at the Triangle with their father. A Coot stubbornly refused to be budged by these dangerous creatures.

The lone young swan, safely at the other end of the lake, is no longer a cygnet. Its flight feathers are grown and it will be trying to get airborne soon -- though the other six young swans are being deplorably lazy about flying practice.

The Black Swan has got bored with the Round Pond and returned to the Serpentine.

An interesting picture from Rainham Marshes by Joan Chatterley. European Paper Wasps, Polistes dominula, are building a nest inside a steel handrail. The nest will soon fill the space and probably extend out from it. A few years ago there was a nest in Hyde Park more than a foot across in every direction.