Nesting gets under way

Pigeon Eater's mate was sharing his latest kill. She is a very privileged bird.

The Pied Wagtail pair were hunting separately at Fisherman's Keep but calling to each other. The male is now beginning to take pine nuts thrown on the ground, not his usual food but liked by other insect-eating birds so it should be all right for him.

On the grass nearby, the Egyptian Goose mother was grazing with her goslings. She has still managed to keep all eight. Her mate is being very efficient at scaring away Carrion Crows.  There are only a few Herring Gulls to guard against, as Pigeon Eater chases them away from this end of the lake, and he has enough pigeons to keep him from taking the goslings -- at least so far.

Another pair of Mute Swans were occupying the nest basket east of the Lido. The male was 4FUW and the female was unringed. Probably they won't stay long.

However, the Grey Herons on the Serpentine island seem to be keen about nesting now, and a pair were building a nest from scratch. There's still only room for one bird, so it had to leave when the other arrived with a twig.

Another nest was in an even earlier stage of construction.

The male Peregrine was on the tower by himself.

This Jay is now always near the Italian Garden waiting for a peanut. Today he was in the swamp cypress.

A Green Woodpecker in a tree near the Rose Garden laughed sarcastically, pecked at the bark, and started preening.

The Wedge-Leaf Wattle by the north gate is beginning to blossom, weeks after the Cootamundra wattle on the other side of the gate. A Blue Tit looked down from a twig.

The Coal Tits were here but wouldn't allow themselves to be photographed. I caught one later in a bush.

The pair in the corkscrew hazel in the Dell are much easier to photograph, as they know they will be fed in due course.

A Great Tit looked out of an aucuba bush in the Flower Walk, This dull spotty shrub seen on a thousand housing estates does at least sometimes produce some red berries.

One of the Long-Tailed Tits at the northwest corner of the bridge arrived with some spider web for the nest.

The unattached Robin at Mount Gate was singing in a bush ...

... and the female of the pair waited in her usual place on the railings.

The was a bicycle rally at the Albert Memorial, and this curious machine was being ridden round, impossible to stop without leaping down backwards from a height. The rear suspension is completely incomprehensible.