Hoping to see a Water Rail

Before I reached the Flower Walk on my way in, the Coal Tit was out on a twig looking expectant.

Then a mob of Great Tits and Blue Tits poured out of the bushes, but it managed to avoid a collision and got a pine nut.

It took longer for the small birds to appear in the Rose Garden, and at first the only arrival was a Blue Tit in the rose bushes in the circular hedge.

But then they realised it was feeding time and started collecting in a cercis bush, a place they like because its zigzag twigs provide many angles for comfortable perching.

It's the same with the chaotic corkscrew hazel in the Dell where the local pair of Coal Tits can often be seen. 

This Coal Tit at Mount Gate has become very demanding and took eight pine nuts one after the other, which it carried off to hide for later enjoyment.

The Robin here who comes out to be fed is, I think, the female of the pair. It was she who was so tatty in the summer after nesting, and she's still untidy ...

... compared to her sleek mate who was singing in the dogwood bush. We've had video of him before, but it's impossible to resist filming this lovely song.

The Robins at the southwest corner of the bridge ...

... and by the Buck Hill shelter are both immaculate as well as hungry.

The female Pied Wagtail was at Fisherman's Keep again ...

... leaving space for the Grey Wagtail to hunt by the Lido.

Pigeon Eater was dining at the Dell restaurant, eating in the water because the shore was crowded with people going to the Wasteland. The last day it's open is New Year's Day and then we shall have some welcome calm apart from the din of heavy lorries hauling away all the attractions.

Common Gulls like the buoys at the Lido because they are just light enough to stand here without the buoy rolling over. This gives them respite from the Herring Gulls and Lesser Black-Backs, which are too heavy and get tipped off.

The Grey Herons at the west end of their island were at their nest again, but their occupation is an on-off business at least so far.

A heron was fishing by the pontoons at the bridge.

A pair of Great Crested Grebes were at work on the other side. As far as I can tell there is just this pair on the Long Water and another two, not mates, on the Serpentine. More should gradually arrive later, but first we need to get through the January frosts.

The Black Swan was following a Mute Swan, but it wasn't 4GIQ who has a very small knob on her bill. This looks like his previous girlfriend, if you can call her that since neither she nor 4GIQ take much notice of his advances.

On a routine day there is at least some good news: a pair of Water Rails has been seen several times on the west side of the Long Water near the bridge. I will make a daily check and hope to see one. This place has an unsuccessful reed bed with large gaps in it, and the scrubby shoreline behind the netting is just the kind of place that Water Rails like.