Pile it high and hope for the best

Grey Herons are quite vague about building nests, and it's surprising that they can make such large ones. One of the pair in the nest at the west end of the island picked up a twig, dithered around with it, and put it back in more or less the same place.

A pair of Herring Gulls called affectionately to each other. The female sitting down is a sign of willingness to nest. They won't nest here, most likely in the Paddington rooftop colony north of the park.

Pigeon Eater and his mate were together on the Dell restaurant roof again. She is in front here, with him dozing behind.

Yet another pair of Mute Swans, 4HQY and 4HDA, were trying out the nesting basket east of the Lido. They only stayed for a couple of minutes before leaving.

It's not clear whether the swans mistrust the nesting baskets or whether they just don't feel like nesting yet, probably the latter. The boss swan and his mate, here seen near the bridge, haven't shown much interest in their private nesting island.

The comings and goings of Shovellers during their winter visit are unpredictable. A couple of weeks ago there were only four, now it's up to two dozen. But we never have as many as a decade ago, before the new Thames-side reserves lured them away: 50 was routine and once there were 200.

Ahmet Amerikali photographed three birds within a few yards of each other around the clump of alders at the foot of Buck Hill near the Italian Garden: a Green Woodpecker ...

... A Cetti's Warbler ...

... and a Long-Tailed Tit.

There are two camellia bushes behind the Albert Memorial, a pink-flowered one and a white-flowered one. We've already had a picture of a Great Tit in the white bush, and today there was another in the pink one.

A Blue Tit looked down from a small hawthorn in the Rose Garden.

The Coal Tits in the corkscrew hazel in the Dell ...

... have had no difficulty evading the jealous Robin, and it seems to have given up trying to stop them.

The male Chaffinch from the Rose Garden was waiting in a tree on the north edge ...

... and the female in the Flower Walk was in a bush. Both seem to have lost their mates.

The female Pied Wagtail was at Fisherman's Keep, today without her mate but he's seen much less than she is.

A Starling shone in the sun on the railings of the Lido restaurant.

A Jay waited for a peanut in a tree by the Vista.

Cold and wet

A cold wet day kept people out of the park. The Moorhen family had the run of the Italian Garden fountains. There's a pair and three grown-up young from last year.

The Mute Swans could graze in peace on the grassy back at the back of the Lido. The Black Swan was with them, well behaved for once.

The boss swan and his mate thought it wasn't wet enough, so cruised about under the waterspouts on the edge of the Italian Garden.

A Great Crested Grebe yawned at the east end of the Serpentine.

Despite the weather, a tree in the North Flower Walk has decided that it's cherry blossom time.

The advance party of hungry small birds in the Rose Garden is coming out farther and farther. A Great Tit was waiting on a rope in front of the daffodils lining the Serpentine Road.

Another perched in dogwood blossom on the north side of the garden.

Inside, one of many Blue Tits arrived on a dripping hawthorn twig ...

... and one of the Coal Tit pair was in a rose bush.

A Coal Tit at Mount Gate successfully got a pine nut from the ground.

The male Robin ...

... and his mate were only slightly damp, as they had been sheltering in the bushes.

Jackdaws cropped up all along the way. One stood on a sign by the leaf yard ...

... and tthere were at least a dozen along the Serpentine Road.

A Jay was impatient behind the Albert Memorial.

A white Feral Pigeon in the Flower Walk looked strangely ominous, like a marble version of the Maltese Falcon.

The female Pied Wagtail glanced up as her mate flew over her at Fisherman's Keep, and a moment later took off and followed him.

Pigeon Eater had nothing to do, as the pigeons were sheltering under the overhanging roof of the Dell restaurant. He stepped off the kerb to go for a little cruise.

Pigeon Eater asserts himself

The approach of the nesting season has made Pigeon Eater more aggressive, as it has other birds. He called loudly ...

... and chased off the gulls on his patch, including the small Black-Headed Gulls which he usually doesn't bother with.

When a bird starts preening, the others around it tend to copy it, even if they're different species. A Gadwall pair started off a Black-Headed Gull, and then another gull arrived and couldn't help joining in.

The Grey Heron pair were standing together on the nest at the west end of the Serpentine island. One preened, the other adjusted the nest. They don't need to sit continuously on the eggs, which are quite large and stay warm for several minutes.

The heron at the northwest corner of the bridge preened on a branch.

A Coot had a vigorous wash and a flap to settle its feathers.

A Moorhen had got into one of the new reed beds through a loose bit of plastic netting. The protective covers on the floating rafts are not up to the job and are all squashed by the heavy Mute Swans walking over them.

The Black Swan was following 4GIQ as usual. When they saw me they came over for some sunflower hearts.

There was a pair of swans on the nesting basket east of the Lido, but it never seems to be the same pair twice. The male here is 4GIX and the female has only a metal ring, not one of Bill Haines's orange plastic ones.

The pair of Egyptian Geese at Peter Pan often claim territory from the sawn-off black poplar tree at the side of the waterfront. The trees where they choose to noisily claim ownership are never the ones where they actually nest. Shouting there might attract a predator.

There were two Pied Wagtails on the edge of the Serpentine at Fisherman's Keep, amd I think one was the usual female's mate, though I didn't get close enough to be sure of its sex. This is the female, distinguishable by two dark streaks across her left shoulder.

A Carrion Crow in the Dell was plotting a deed without a name.

The small birds in the Rose Garden know roughly when I will arrive and have taken to waiting on the approach and coming for pine nuts before I even get into the gate. This Blue Tit was in a cedar on the north side of the garden ...

... and there was also a Coal Tit. This is the one of the pair that comes to my hand, and it has little white specks above its eyes.

They other doesn't. It was on a tree inside the garden.

There are still no Redwings on the mud in the Parade Ground, or indeed anything interesting. Tom sent a fine picture of a Redwing eating berries at Rainham Marshes.

The male Robin at Mount Gate was on the railings in front of his dogwood bush ...

... and the female looked up from the path.

A soggy start to February

It was a drizzly day with outbreaks of heavier rain. Visitors sheltered in the Italian Garden loggia.

Thrushes welcome rain, which brings up worms. A Song Thrush near the leaf yard was singing cheerfully in a treetop.

A tall conifer on the south side of the Flower Walk near the Queen's Gate crossing -- I'm not sure whether it's a Western Red Cedar or a Lawson's Cypress -- gives good shelter to small birds. A Coal Tit ...

... and a Blue Tit emerged to collect pine nuts.

Another Blue Tit ...

... and a Great Tit were waiting in a camellia bush behind the Albert Memorial.

This isn't one of the regular Robins. It perched on a stem in the Flower Walk before coming down to pick up some pine nuts from the ground.

A Jay by the Henry Moore sculpture was expecting a peanut.

The female Pied Wagtail skittered about near the boathouses.

Pigeon Eater has been very close to his mate for several days. It seems much too early for them to start breeding but everything is running early this year, started by the warm autumn and unstoppable in spite of recent cold weather.

The Grey Heron sitting in the nest at the west end of the island got up to turn the eggs.

A high nest towards the west end is receiving a lot of attention at the moment. This isn't the one with the chicks in it. Those could be heard too.

A Great Crested Grebe at the east end of the Serpentine called to its mate.

The boss Mute Swan and his new mate were waiting at the Vista to see if anyone would feed them, but on a rainy day there were few people. They took advantage of damp feathers to have a thorough preen.  In the background you can hear the Song Thrush shown in the video above.

Swans fed on the grassy bank at the back of the Lido swimming area.

Shovellers were scooping busily on the Long Water.

The immature drake on the Serpentine never joins them, and perhaps doesn't know they are there. He has already got a green head but will have to wait till next year for the rest of his finery.