First clear sight of a young heron

Today there was was the first clear sight of one of the young Grey Herons in the top nest. The other could be seen lower down, mostly masked by twigs.

The female heron in the west nest flew in to visit her mate. We know which is which after the mating attempt a few days ago. Her bill is quite pink, his is mostly yellow.

I don't think the Carrion Crow on the boathouse roof had done anything to offend these two Black-Headed Gulls. They just had nothing better to do and felt like a bit of mischief.

When you see a Black-Headed Gull alone at the east end of the Serpentine with no others near, it's bound to be the Czech gull who keeps his territory clear. He's easy to identify, as his original Czech ring is on his wrong leg, the left one, and is deeper than a British ring. The plastic ring on his right leg was added by Bill Haines last year.

Pigeon Eater and his mate were on the boathouse roof. They are always together now. If she disappears it means that she's nesting, and I think the nest is on this roof but have no way of knowing.

This Jay is always waiting between Peter Pan and the Italian Garden.

Tom was here a few days ago and has sent four fine action shots. This is the same Jay flying down to pick up a peanut. You can see that its wings are stalled, because the feathers on the upper surface are lifting.

A Long-Tailed Tit took off from a twig.

A Great Tit ...

... and a Blue Tit came to collect pine nuts from my hand.

Back to today's pictures: the Coal Tit at Mount Gate was in a yew tree now with wind-pollinated flowers. If you shake a branch a cloud of pollen drifts out.

The usual pair were waiting in the corkscrew hazel in the Dell.

A different Robin appeared in an ash tree near Peter Pan, one of the many Robins seen and heard around the Long Water.

When I last saw the male of the Pied Wagtail pair on the Serpentine he had an avian pox blister on one foot, and today he was noticeably lame and stood on one leg when he wasn't walking. Birds do recover from avian pox if not completely disabled from it, so he has all all our best wishes.

The Black Swan saw 4GIQ across the lake and hurried over to meet her, calling and displaying. They met by the landing stage, disturbing the dominant Black-Headed Gull who took off from the water.

The Egyptian mother still had her eight goslings, which sheltered under her. They are growing and will only just fit.

The Mandarin drake was alone at the Lido, and the female was out of sight. She may have been in the bushes: Mandarins spend more time on land than most ducks.

Primroses are coming out at the southwest corner of the bridge. They are wild single primroses, not cultivated polyanthus. These and cowslips were planted here many years ago by an old Australian gardener, who also made and put up boxes for Blue Tits. In those times gardeners were allowed to use their initiative and not always have to follow the orders of a man behind a desk.

The three hornbeam trees in a close group on Buck Hill were putting out catkins.