A bit of wind

Colder weather and a chilling wind brought Great Tits and a Blue Tit storming out of the bushes at the bridge to take pine nuts.

The usual Robin was there but doesn't like being filmed.

There are sadly few small birds in the Rose Garden now since the shrubbery has been destroyed, but a pair of Great Tits remain loyal and usually appear in a rose bush.

The Flower Walk was shut, as it is for some reason when there is a wind -- why are the trees here more likely to blow down than the tens of thousands of trees elesewhere in the park? -- so the usual Jay gang didn't pick me up till I was going home. This one was in a yew at Mount Gate.

The Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was staying close to the trunk to avoid her feathers getting disarranged.

Pigeon Eater contemplated the waves and went into the water amid a flock of Coots. He didn't stay long and soon returned to the stable shore.

A Cormorant at the island extended its wings to dry them as far as it could without getting blown off the post.

The pair at the other end of the island settled down in their comforatble patch of grass.

Grey Herons and Cormorants throughly dislike each other as fishing rivals, but when a heron preened on a post the Cormorant couldn't help copying it. This was shot in the lee of the bridge, so conditions look calmer than they were.

The Long Water is sheltered by trees, so a heron fishing at Peter Pan was barely ruffled.

The Black-Headed Gull at the landing stage, seen here on the head of the Big Bird statue, is already beginning to regrow his dark head feathers, months in advance of the other gulls. I think that this is because this dominant bird is awash with testosterone.

One of the young Great Crested Grebes from the nest in the poplar on the Long Water was fishing under the bridge, with an occasional contribution from a parent.

In fact I don't think that the young grebe by the Italian Garden is a sibling of theirs. It's noticeably older, the same age as the one at the far edge of the Serpentine, three and a half months. But it's not that bird, as I have seen both on the same day. Could it have flown in from elsewhere with some parents who knew where the lake is?

The Mute Swan family were at the Lido. Bill Haines has been busy and one of the cygnets now has a ring, Orange 4HTQ. I couldn't see the other one's legs, but now Jon has corrected my observation -- I misread the Q as O -- and told me that the one lying in the foreground is 4HTP.

The Diana fountain was closed because of the wind -- an even weirder decision -- which was good news for the geese. Some Canadas flew in ...

... to join the Canadas and Greylags in the enclosure.

A pair of Shovellers revolved together at the Vista.

The muse of Architecture on the Albert Memorial. 'You're expecting me to build that?'