Water Rail on the ice

Today's top pictures are by Duncan Campbell, who found the elusive Water Rail on the Long Water out on the ice.

It took off and flew to the other side.

Coots clustered on the edge of the ice.

They are slightly unsteady when walking on ice. Thanks again to Duncan for this picture.

But Moorhens' enormous feet enable them to walk without slipping.

A Black-Headed Gull examined a bit of wood.

A Grey Heron had no clear water to fish in.

But this wasn't a problem, as it could fly to the still unfrozen Serpentine.

The sitting heron in the top nest on the island could just be seen. Sometimes it sits lower and is completely invisible.

The Black Swan has been quite aggressive in the past few days. He was chasing a Mute male who had done nothing to annoy him.

A fine picture by Tom of Pintails flying at Rainham Marshes.

He also reports that a White Pelican was seen flying upriver. Apparently it has flown out of a park at Watford. It can't rendezvous with the pelicans in St James's Park as these have been shut up because of the bird flu scare.

At the southwest corner of the bridge a pair of Robins came out together, too hungry to squabble over territory.

The male at Mount Gate ...

... and the female stay well apart, though I have seen them squabbling when they got too close.

The two Coal Tits in the Dell were chasing each other through a plane tree, calling loudly. They came down to the corkscrew hazel bush to be fed, still calling.

There were a lot of Blue Tits in the Rose Garden. You see more of them here than anywhere else in the park.

The male Chaffinch waited in a tree.

A Carrion Crow at the Dell restaurant was doing its best to look sweet.

Frost

A frosty night had left the ground iron hard. These are difficult times for birds that eat worms, such as Blackbirds. This male in the Rose Garden was very shy and retreated before I could give it some raisins.

Looking at a Blue Tit in a tree with fruit I used to think that they were just hunting insects, but I've definitely seen them pecking at the fruit. This one was in a Japanese crabapple by the bridge.

There was a small flock in the Rose Garden eager for pine nuts ...

... and both the Coal Tits turned up.

The pair at the Dell were in the corkscrew hazel bush.

Two Robins in the Triangle shrubbery were too hungry to worry about territory, and came out together to be fed.

The male at Mount Gate ...

... and the female were waiting in their usual places.

A Jay in the box tree at Temple Gate arrived for a peanut.

The female Pied Wagtail was hunting up the edge of the Serpentine, and appeared several times.

The Long Water was partly frozen, giving Black-Headed and Common Gulls a place to loaf around. Two Shoveller drakes cruised by.

The dominant Black-Headed Gull looked over his territory from the Big Bird statue ...

... and the boss of the middle of the Serpentine was at his favourite post.

Pigeon Eater preened his immaculate plumage at the Dell restaurant.

The bereaved Mute Swan was at the Vista with five of his young ones, They were very subdued, but one roused itself sufficently to shoo a couple of Canada Geese.

The sixth young swan was at Peter Pan, looking really depressed and droopy. I feared it was ill, but later I saw it cruising beside its father and it seemed all right.

The Black Swan was following 4GIQ and a Coot was following them both.

The two Bar-Headed x Greylag Goose hybrids were visiting from St James's Park.

Swan mother taken into care

The contorted twigs of the corkscrew hazel bush in the Dell provide protection and a comfortable perch for small birds. A Coal Tit, a Blue Tit and a Robin arrived to take food from the railings.

The Coal Tits in the Rose Garden ...

... and at the southwest corner of the bridge also appeared. You do generally see them in pairs.

The usual Robin was also here, bullying the tits.

The male Robin at Mount Gate was singing in his favourite dogwood bush ...

... while his mate came out on the path to request pine nuts.

Long-Tailed Tits whizzed about in the trees at the northwest corner of the bridge.

The Song Thrush at the Diana fountain has been remarkably vocal for some time. They do sing in winter, but seldom so much.

The Jackdaws which used to line up for peanuts all along, as they continued coming do the north shore of the Serpentine have moved. It wasn't the disturbance from the Wasteland that shifted them, as they continued flying down (and the Wasteland has now closed, thank goodness). But the flock does seem to like shifting ground from time to time. I only saw one, near the Italian Garden.

A Magpie was waiting on the other side of the path.

The female Pied Wagtail was hunting at Fisherman's Keep.

Herring Gulls are too heavy to perch on the plastic buoys at the Lido and make them tip over, but it amuses them to try.

Pigeon Eater cruised along the shore looking for an inattentive victim.

The dominant Black-Headed Gull at the landing stage struck a threatening attitude.

The six teenage Mute Swans were at the new reed bed, a place they seem to have adopted.

But there is worrying news about their mother. She was picked up this morning in a very weak condition, though uninjured, and is being looked after by the bird rescue group.

Later: very sorry to hear that she has died. The cause is unknown.

The lone teenager was by the Dell restuarant with both parents.

A Canada Goose examined one of the new nesting baskets. So far the swans and geese seem to be suspicious of these devices. I saw an Egyptian on one once, and a Grey Heron used the other as a fishing station for a while, but there has been no move to occupy them even as a temporrary resting place.

Trying to film the Coal Tits

A Blue Tit was waiting in the little hawthorn tree in the Rose Garden ...

... along with both the Coal Tits.

They followed me to the cercis bush where small birds often collect, so I tried to film them. They're so restless that you never get a clip of more than a few seconds.

The Coal Tits in the Dell were jumping around in the corkscrew hazel bush.

A flock of Long-Tailed Tits hunted through the bushes at the northwest corner of the bridge.

Both the Robins came out at Mount Gate, the male in the dogwood bush ...

... and the female on the railings.

The Robin by the Buck Hill shelter perched in a winged elm.

A Jay struck a pose in a holly by the bridge.

This pure white but rather grubby male Feral Pigeon is often seen at the Lido restaurant. He made a move on a female of the 'Blue Chequer' colour that is commonest in London pigeons. She wasn't interested.

A young Herring Gull in the Rose Garden watched an adult doing the worm dance, then went off and tried dancing on its own.

Pigeon Eater was on an exceptionally foul bit of the shore, but as immaculate as usual.

Tom alerted me to the 'Wild London' programme just shown on BBC1, where there is some footage of the famous gull at work.

There was a Grey Heron preening in the nest at the west end of the island ...

... but I don't think the pair here are serious about nesting. The pair at the other end have given up too, at least for the time being. But I could just see the outline of a sitting heron in the high nest in the middle where I got an exceptionally bad picture a few days ago.

The Black Swan was remorselessly stalking 4GIQ. She doesn't repel him, but she doesn't react to his advances.

The six Mute teenagers were on the Long Water by the Italian Garden ...

... where there was also a small flock of Gadwalls.

On the slope above the garden the two Egyptian Geese stood on one leg each.

The trio of the Canada with a Canada x Greylag hybrid mate and one hybrid hanger-on seems to have grown into a quartet with the addition of one more Canada.