After the rain

Early heavy rain gave way to a reasonable day. I waited till the rain stopped before going out, and found the Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery had already emerged and was on a branch of her lime tree.

This is one of the young Jays in that area, still slightly fluffy.

The Robin in the Flower Walk had avoided getting soaked.

The Robin at Peter Pan was also waiting, perched in what looked like a most uncomfortable place on a railing spike. It could have gone on the flat iron strip under the spikes, but seemed happy enough where it was. 

The Coal Tits were waiting at the southwest corner of the bridge.

Weekends bring out the feeders of the Rose-Ringed Parakeets, and there was a mob of humans and birds in the usual place by the 'Don't feed the wildlife' signs at the foot of Buck Hill.

A Black-Headed Gull in the Italian Garden and a young Herring Gull by the Serpentine had to cope with the problem of having a piece of bread too large to swallow, and a lot of envious gulls wanting to snatch it. In both cases the solution was to take it away to a secluded place and worry bits out of it.

Pigeon Eater is proud of being the handsomest gull on the lake and spends a lot of time attending to his feathers.

The Czech Black-Headed Gull looked over his territory from his perch on the sign at Fisherman's Keep. He usually faces the shore, hoping to see someone picnicking on a bench who might offer him some scraps. His metal ring reads 'N. MUSEUM / PRAHA / ET05.589'.

There are now four Common Gulls on the buoys at the Lido. The fourth gull from the left is Black-Headed and slightly smaller.

A Cormorant perched on the dead branch on the island which is a favourite place for them. Though numbers are well down now, they never go away entirely.

The Great Crested Grebe at the bridge was still sitting on the stolen Coot nest under the willow. It seems hard to believe that they've chosen to nest at this silly time with winter approaching and possible frosts in a few weeks.

The youngest of this year's offspring was temporarily by itself at the  fallen horse chestnut north of Peter Pan. It's still dependent on its parents and chasing them loudly.

A Moorhen pecked at the algae encrusting the marble fountain on the edge of the Italian Garden. Algae are quite nutritious -- there was once a plan to feed astronauts on Chlorella grown in tanks on their spacecraft -- but no doubt the Moorhen was also looking for little larvae and other creatures in the slime.

The deserted female Mute Swan 4DTT was at the Vista as usual, with her suitor 4GIC hanging around in the background. She's not encouraging him in any way. Her teenager wasn't with her and I couldn't find him.

Several swans were making practice flights on the Serpentine. One spashed down, using its feet as waterskis to soften the impact.

More of the gravel strip on the Long Water has been cleared of plants, and has attracted a flock of Canada Geese.

The smallest Egyptian youngster was by itself again near the Dell restaurant. We've already seen that the other two and its parents are happy to welcome it, but it just seems to like being by itself.