RIP Boss Swan

Sad news: the boss Mute Swan from the Long Water was found dead on the gravel strip this morning, from unknown causes. He was a very good swan from a swan's point of view, a powerful alpha male, whatever humans thought of his violent behaviour.

You might have expected that his mate would be drooping and inconsolable. But in fact she seemed remarkably unconcerned, seen here on the left of the picture preening with a group on the Serpentine shore by the Triangle, and she accepted a snack and gobbled it up enthusiastically. She hadn't been with him for very long, only a few months, and perhaps it takes longer than that for a pair to bond strongly.

The Long Water is now crowded with swans. This is a view up the Vista towards Kensington Palace.

A pair were already making a nest in the spot under the Italian Garden originally chosen by the boss.

The Canada gander was patrolling the water in front of the island where his mate is sitting on her eggs. I heard that some swans had tried to land and he had repelled them.

Better news: the single young Egyptian Goose to be brought up on the Serpentine last year, who was limping with a badly swollen foot, is now walking normally and the swelling is much reduced.

The male Pied Wagtail who was very lame from an avian pox blister on his foot is also much better now, running without a limp as the blister subsides.

The six eldest Egyptian goslings from this year are now quite large and beginning to get proper feathers. One of them strayed, but was called by his mother and hurried back.

The pair in the Rose Garden seemed delighted that the Huntress fountain is working again, but the goddess looked peeved at having an insolent Feral Pigeon perched on her bow hand.

A Great Crested Grebe on the Serpentine darted around catching midges flying near the surface of the water.

A pair of Coots at the bridge struggled to fit some long and irregular twigs into their nest, but Coots are good at this and they managed.

The two young Grey Herons in the top nest were playing again, but they had both just been for a short flight round the island, landing as neatly as adults. They are by no means independent yet and will remain in the nest to be fed for some time.

The Cetti's Warbler at the Vista appeared in willow catkins on the south side.

A pair of Long-Tailed Tits jumped around in the next tree.

A Coal Tit I haven't seen before came out in the top of a big yew tree at the northwest corner of the bridge.

In the Rose Garden, a Blue Tit waited in a cabbage palm.

The single Robin at Mount Gate was singing in cherry blossom on the other side of the path, but soon flew over to take several pine nuts.

A Jay looked expectant in a cherry near the Italian Garden.

A female Hairy-Footed Flower Bee browsed in a red deadnettle across the road from the Serpentine Gallery. They have orange hairs on their legs, but here the garish colour seems to come from pollen, as there is also a dusting on her face.

Disorderly swans

The Coal Tits in the Dell called from a tree before I had got to the place where I usually feed them. They are enormously fond of pine nuts, and for preference live and nest in the stone pines that produce them. I don't think the park has any of these trees, which are a prominent feature of the northern Italian landscape.

A Blue Tit ate a pine nut on a hawthorn twig in the Rose Garden.

The cercis bush where they usually collect had been taken by Rose-Ringed Parakeets, scaring them away.

A Wren appeared on a twig at the southwest corner of the bridge.

The third Robin at Mount Gate was waiting on the railings.

A male Great Spotted Woodpecker climbed around a tree near the Italian Garden. A female has been seen here too, so there is a pair.

A Wood Pigeon fed on tender young leaves in a red-leafed cherry tree by the bridge.

Carrion Crows enjoyed a bath in a large muddy puddle near the Speke obelisk.

One of the young Grey Herons in the second nest on the island had climed out on to a branch, where it stood looking as gormless as only a young heron can.

The boss Mute Swan and his mate had left their territory on the Long Water to beat up the swans on the other side of the bridge, leaving the way open for eleven swans to invade.

They were jostling and chasing each other by the reed bed. The boss will have to drive them out when he returns, but Usually he can scare them away without a fight.

The Canada gander was guarding his mate on the nesting island in case any of them should try to come ashore. Aided by fury, he is more than a match for a junior swan.

The boss swan's unoccupied nest site in the reeds had a Moorhen sprawling in it,

So did the swans' nest at the Serpentine outflow which was also temporarily deserted.

At the nest site in the reeds east of the Lido, the male 4FYY saw off a rival ...

... and returned trumphantly to his mate 4FUF.

A Dark-Edged Bee Fly perched on a dry stem by the Ranger's Cottage. Their wings can't fold up, so this is their resting position.

Nesting news

A Blue Tit called from a flowering cercis bush in the Rose Garden.

Another at Mount Gate was lurking in the pink-flowered currant bush ...

... along with the single Robin, the only one of the three that will come to my hand.

Across the path a pair of Long-Tailed Tits jumped around in a Japanese maple.

A Chiffchaff sang in an alder near the Italian Garden. A pair are nesting in the brambles below.

Ahmet Amerikali got a fine picture of the Cetti's Warbler at the Vista ...

... and a male Blackbird carrying larvae. It's good to see that they are already nesting.

A female Magpie on the lawn outside begged her mate to bring her food. He was reluctant to respond, but he won't get anywhere till he does, as she is testing him to ensure that he will feed her when she is on the nest.

The two young Grey Herons in the top nest playfully grabbed each other's bills. Done to a parent, that gesture would be a demand to be fed, but here they were just being silly with each other.

The three younger Grey Herons on the island are growing up. They can probably fly by now, though I haven't seen one any farther out of the nest than it could climb. They will still be fed by their parents for several weeks.

The solitary first-year Black-Headed Gull was still at Fisherman's Keep. It's a bit tatty but seems healthy and its wings are in good order, so it's odd that it didn't fly away when the others left for their breeding grounds.

Just offshore, a pair of Great Crested Grebes dozed as they were bounced by the choppy waves raised by a stiff breeze.

The Mute Swans nesting in the reeds near the outflow are 4DVZ and 4FYF. I could only read one of the rings yesterday.

The standoff on the Long Water is still holding. The boss was on his nest site in the reeds under the Italian Garden ...

... and his mate was resting in the water near the nesting island ...

... but neither of them was bothering the Canada Goose sitting on her eggs.

I simply don't understand why the boss hasn't claimed the nesting island he used successfully last year with his late mate.

Two swans on the Serpentine gained altitude to fly over the bridge on their way to the Round Pond.

The six eldest Egyptian goslings on the Serpentine have been spoilt by visitors feeding them. If you stand still they come towards you expectantly. I don't feed them. It's much better that they should get their natural diet of grass and larvae, and bad diet may be a factor in them getting the 'angel wing' deformity caused by weak bones, though this is certainly also hereditary.

Windy and grey

It was a windy day. A Greenfinch sang his wheezing song in a swaying treetop by the Long Water.

The familiar Chaffinch from Kensington Gardens picked me up near the Serpentine Gallery and followed me all round the Long Water, collecting pine nuts on the way. He eventually followed me through the tunnel into Hyde Park, and here he is in a bush at the Triangle, still hungry.

It was a surprise to see the Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery out on the chestnut tree in the chilly wind.

The Coal Tits in the Dell ...

... and at Mount Gate were keen to be fed.

So were half a dozen Jackdaws which arrived in a flock betweeen the boat hire building and the Dell restaurant.

The female Grey Wagtail was by the Serpentine outflow. Before I could get any closer her mate flew past and she took off to follow him.

Ahmet Amerikali got a good shot of a male Pied Wagtail on a post at the Vista ...

... and a Chiffchaff in the same place.

The Grey Heron at the northwest corner of the bridge left his usual place on the steps, where some people were unsuccessfully trying to photograph a singing Blackcap (I couldn't get it either). It perched crossly in a tree on the edge of the lake.

A Moorhen foraged down the edge of the Serpentine with the wind behind it, disarranging its feathers.

The Black Swan and his still reluctant girlfriend were preening together on the Serpentine shore. She has little choice but to stay with him as he follows her closely and chases her Mute mate away, but she is still refusing to visit the nest he has made for her.

But there are signs of nesting with the other swans. The pair in the reeds at the Serpentine outflow were comfortably installed as a heron walked past. The female is 4DVZ, I couldn't see whether her mate has a ring. Later: it's 4FYF.

4FYY and 4FUF were displaying by their nest side in the reed bed east of the Lido. Some Canada and Greylag Geese were hanging around, but they can get rid of those easily enough.

But the Canada sitting on her eggs at the swan nesting island on the Long Water is still in place, with the inevitable Coots nesting at the edge.

The gander was guarding her, chewing a reed stem to pass the time.

The Egyptian Geese at the Dell restaurant had taken their four goslings to the edge of the terrace, as Pigeon Eater was patrolling the shore on the other side of the building. One of them strayed away but soon returned to safety.

Marsh marigolds by the Diana fountain brightened a grey day.