A Blackbird sang quietly to himself in a tree in the Flower Walk. They start singing later than the other songbirds and take a while to warm up, but it's worth waiting for them.
A Chaffinch and a Robin perched in a flowering currant bush near the Vista.
The female Robin at Mount Gate came out when called, looking untidy.
The Coal Tits in the Rose Garden were being difficult as usual but I managed to get a hasty picture of one in pink cherry blossom.
A Blue Tit looked out from a rose bush.
Wood Pigeons were eating myobalan blossom on the island. They eat a lot of flowers but take their time to consume each one thoroughly, so they do little damage to the tree -- unlike the wasteful Rose-Ringed Parakeets shown yesterday.
A bronze male Feral Pigeon on the edge of the Serpentine flirted with a black and white female, but she wasn't much interested in his advances.
A different pair of Pied Wagtails were chasing each other along the shore by the Dell restaurant. Both had avian pox blisters on their feet but it didn't seem to be slowing either of them down.
The distinctive high-pitched call of a male Little Owl could be heard coming from the lime tree by the Ranger's Cottage, and there he was next to a hole. I think this tatty old tree is completely hollow and the pair can climb around inside and emerge from other holes, where I've seen them.
Both the Peregrines were on the tower, as ever a wary distance apart. There is a practical reason for their standoffishness: at any moment one or both of them may choose to whizz out after a pigeon and they don't want to collide. You see the same thing on a much smaller scale with Pied Wagtails, also very swift hunters.
I've been keeping an eye on the upper west Grey Heron nest on the island, as there were frequent early signs of a couple wanting to nest there. Today you could just see one of them sitting. This is a one-year-old bird, still with a grey head, and it's been seen here before.
The large horse chestnut tree that fell into the Long Water many years ago has mostly rotted away and reeds have grown around it, but there are still some branches above water to provide a fishing station for a heron.
A Great Crested Grebe by the island preened in the wind.
The Black Swan was making a nest beside the landing stage by the Diana fountain, hoping to attract his reluctant Mute girlfriend 4GIQ. He chased her proper mate away earlier. It seems very unlikely that anything will come of this attempt.
She was on the other side of the landing stage, not interested in the nest.
The dominant Mute Swan on the Long Water and his mate were making a nest in a daft place on the bank by the Italian Garden, only yards away from where I have several times seen a fox. They have a good safe nesting island close by, and the male has used it before, so why isn't he there now? The boss swan has shown himself to be wonderfully thuggish, but his recent behaviour suggests that he isn't too bright even by swan standards.
While they were busy at one end of the Serpentine another pair of swans had crept under the bridge at the other end and were by the willow tree. If the boss sees them they will be chased away at once, but for the time being they were out of sight.
