A Green Woodpecker dug for larvae and worms in the scrubby enclosure at the east end of the Serpentine, where there is a monument to Queen Caroline for whose amusement the Serpentine was made between 1727 and 1731.
A Carrion Crow on a tree stump by the Dell pecked at a bone, the lower jaw of a squirrel or a large rat.
A Grey Wagtail hunted for insects on the small waterfall in the Dell stream.
This is the Coal Tit that comes to my hand at the southwest corner of the bridge. Its mate hasn't plucked up courage yet, but will fly down to the railings to take pine nuts ...
... though it's facing opposition from the aggressive Robin.
On the other side of the path a Goldcrest jumped around in a yew tree.
The Jays followed me all the way from the Flower Walk ...
... to the Vista.
The Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery sheltered between two thick branches from the biting east wind.
A Grey Heron was fishing in the Dell stream.
The single Moorhen in the Dell, which lost its mate to a fox several years ago, has never made more than a brief relationship with any other Moorhen. But here it is friends, for the moment at least, with a young one hatched this year and still not quite adult in appearance.
These two Moorhens eating water plants at the Triangle are parent and offspring.
The two young Mute Swans on the Serpentine are no longer following their parents around. They barged into a crowd of geese eating some oatmeal that someone had thrown to them.
The Black Swan was by the bridge, and came over for his daily treat of sunflower hearts.
Greylag Geese chewed the bark off a willow twig. The bark contains salicylic acid, the active principle of aspirin, but probably they were not self-medicating but just liked the taste.
These are the three young Egyptian Geese on the Serpentine, with the undersized one on the right. It's still smaller than them and will be a small adult, but it's no longer a stunted little thing.
A single Buff-Tailed Bumblebee in the Rose Garden was clinging on to a baby sage plant. It was sluggish in the chill, but at least it was next to a source of nectar to keep it going.
Usually only young queen bumblebees survive the winter, but in sheltered places with year-round flowers such as the Rose Garden a few others may get through. I've seen normal-sized Buff-Tails, not the big queens, here in December, January and February.












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