First clear sight of a young heron

Today there was was the first clear sight of one of the young Grey Herons in the top nest. The other could be seen lower down, mostly masked by twigs.

The female heron in the west nest flew in to visit her mate. We know which is which after the mating attempt a few days ago. Her bill is quite pink, his is mostly yellow.

I don't think the Carrion Crow on the boathouse roof had done anything to offend these two Black-Headed Gulls. They just had nothing better to do and felt like a bit of mischief.

When you see a Black-Headed Gull alone at the east end of the Serpentine with no others near, it's bound to be the Czech gull who keeps his territory clear. He's easy to identify, as his original Czech ring is on his wrong leg, the left one, and is deeper than a British ring. The plastic ring on his right leg was added by Bill Haines last year.

Pigeon Eater and his mate were on the boathouse roof. They are always together now. If she disappears it means that she's nesting, and I think the nest is on this roof but have no way of knowing.

This Jay is always waiting between Peter Pan and the Italian Garden.

Tom was here a few days ago and has sent four fine action shots. This is the same Jay flying down to pick up a peanut. You can see that its wings are stalled, because the feathers on the upper surface are lifting.

A Long-Tailed Tit took off from a twig.

A Great Tit ...

... and a Blue Tit came to collect pine nuts from my hand.

Back to today's pictures: the Coal Tit at Mount Gate was in a yew tree now with wind-pollinated flowers. If you shake a branch a cloud of pollen drifts out.

The usual pair were waiting in the corkscrew hazel in the Dell.

A different Robin appeared in an ash tree near Peter Pan, one of the many Robins seen and heard around the Long Water.

When I last saw the male of the Pied Wagtail pair on the Serpentine he had an avian pox blister on one foot, and today he was noticeably lame and stood on one leg when he wasn't walking. Birds do recover from avian pox if not completely disabled from it, so he has all all our best wishes.

The Black Swan saw 4GIQ across the lake and hurried over to meet her, calling and displaying. They met by the landing stage, disturbing the dominant Black-Headed Gull who took off from the water.

The Egyptian mother still had her eight goslings, which sheltered under her. They are growing and will only just fit.

The Mandarin drake was alone at the Lido, and the female was out of sight. She may have been in the bushes: Mandarins spend more time on land than most ducks.

Primroses are coming out at the southwest corner of the bridge. They are wild single primroses, not cultivated polyanthus. These and cowslips were planted here many years ago by an old Australian gardener, who also made and put up boxes for Blue Tits. In those times gardeners were allowed to use their initiative and not always have to follow the orders of a man behind a desk.

The three hornbeam trees in a close group on Buck Hill were putting out catkins.

All aboard the weeping beech

A Great Tit sang a monotonous one-note song and chattered in the corkscrew hazel bush in the Flower Walk. Great Tits don't always have the two-note song you expect. Some songs are quite long, and the most I've heard is 11 notes. 

The weeping beech by the west gate of the Rose Garden was a busy scene with Great Tits ...

... Blue Tits ...

... one of the Coal Tit pair ...

... the usual male Chaffinch ...

... a Jay ...

... and a Carrion Crow all waiting to be fed.

A crow by the Serpentine had found something better than a peanut, a piece of smoked salmon from one of the restaurants. It needs the extra protein, as its feathers are bleached by a poor diet of junk food.

A pair of Long-Tailed Tits near the Italian Garden were gathering spider web ...

... and lichen for their nest.

Robins have been singing all winter, but the approach of spring has sent them into overdrive and they could be heard singing everywhere. This is one I'm not familiar with in the Flower Walk ...

... and this is the unattached Robin at Mount Gate. The usual pair here could be heard at the back of the bushes.

Pigeon Eater was with his mate by the Dell restaurant. He was careful to face away from the Feral Pigeons to give the impression that he wasn't paying attention to them.

This Black-Headed Gull, Yellow 2F12, has been visiting the park since 2023. I reported it at the time and found that it had been ringed on the seafront at Westcliff in Essex in February, and had later been seen in Regent's Park.

The Black Swan was closely following his girlfriend 4GIQ.

There were four Mute Swans on the nesting basket by the Lido, a sign that they don't consider it a nest site, just a place to rest. The basket is already beginning to break down: wicker was not a good choice for huge birds with a destructive bent.

The Egyptian Geese at the east end of the Serpentine had managed to keep all their eight goslings for another day, and guided them neatly among the crowds of Sunday visitors.

A pair of Mandarins cruised down the Serpentine. The drake was in his full spectacular breeding plumage, and his mate discreetly chic in grey.

Nesting gets under way

Pigeon Eater's mate was sharing his latest kill. She is a very privileged bird.

The Pied Wagtail pair were hunting separately at Fisherman's Keep but calling to each other. The male is now beginning to take pine nuts thrown on the ground, not his usual food but liked by other insect-eating birds so it should be all right for him.

On the grass nearby, the Egyptian Goose mother was grazing with her goslings. She has still managed to keep all eight. Her mate is being very efficient at scaring away Carrion Crows.  There are only a few Herring Gulls to guard against, as Pigeon Eater chases them away from this end of the lake, and he has enough pigeons to keep him from taking the goslings -- at least so far.

Another pair of Mute Swans were occupying the nest basket east of the Lido. The male was 4FUW and the female was unringed. Probably they won't stay long.

However, the Grey Herons on the Serpentine island seem to be keen about nesting now, and a pair were building a nest from scratch. There's still only room for one bird, so it had to leave when the other arrived with a twig.

Another nest was in an even earlier stage of construction.

The male Peregrine was on the tower by himself.

This Jay is now always near the Italian Garden waiting for a peanut. Today he was in the swamp cypress.

A Green Woodpecker in a tree near the Rose Garden laughed sarcastically, pecked at the bark, and started preening.

The Wedge-Leaf Wattle by the north gate is beginning to blossom, weeks after the Cootamundra wattle on the other side of the gate. A Blue Tit looked down from a twig.

The Coal Tits were here but wouldn't allow themselves to be photographed. I caught one later in a bush.

The pair in the corkscrew hazel in the Dell are much easier to photograph, as they know they will be fed in due course.

A Great Tit looked out of an aucuba bush in the Flower Walk, This dull spotty shrub seen on a thousand housing estates does at least sometimes produce some red berries.

One of the Long-Tailed Tits at the northwest corner of the bridge arrived with some spider web for the nest.

The unattached Robin at Mount Gate was singing in a bush ...

... and the female of the pair waited in her usual place on the railings.

The was a bicycle rally at the Albert Memorial, and this curious machine was being ridden round, impossible to stop without leaping down backwards from a height. The rear suspension is completely incomprehensible.

First swans to nest?

The eight Egyptian goslings have survived another day. They emerged from the shelter of their mother and she led them to the grass to feed.

A pair of Mute Swans seemed to be settling down in the reeds east of the Lido. This site has been successful before, and was used by the boss swan two years ago before he took possession of the Long Water. The male swan at the back had only a metal ring, and I couldn't see what the female had.

This one by the island is a 'Polish' swan. That doesn't mean that it comes from Poland, simply that this strain of Mute Swan with pale legs was first observed in Poland. The most remarkable thing about them is that they have white cygnets rather than the usual grey ones.

Mallard drakes chased each other at the island.

The trio of the Gadwall drake and two Mallards, not seen for some time, were at the Lido.

The female Grey Heron flew into the nest at the west end of the island to join her mate. The pair seem to be quite enthusiastic about nesting, but we've seen plenty of false starts before.

The dominant Black-Headed Gull at the landing stage was swimming around yelling at rivals, and occasionally chasing them off.

The female Pied Wagtail, hunting near the Dell restaurant, saw her mate flying past and streaked after him, twittering.

Great Tits, Blue Tits, one of the Coal Tit pair and the usual Chaffinch were waiting in the cercis bush in the Rose Garden, looking like exotic fruit on the bare twigs.

The Coal Tits ...

...and Blue Tits also appeared in the rose bushes ...

... and there were Blue Tits in the cedar on the north edge. There are almost as many Blue Tits as Great Tits in the Rose Garden area, in contrast to the rest of the park where they are in a small minority.

The Long-Tailed Tit pair at the northwest corner of the bridge were low in the bushes, looking for feathers on the ground to add to their nest.

The Robin at the southwest corner ...

... and the one by the Buck Hill shelter came out to be fed.

A Wren was making a loud fuss in the undergrowth near Peter Pan.

A Carrion Crow waited on the stonework of the Italian Garden ...

... and a Jackdaw perched on a nearby bench commemorating three dogs, Topsy, Scarlett and Chloe.

Until two years ago a contribution of £10,000 would get you a bench with your chosen words carved prominently on the back which would last for decades. Now the same amount will only get you a mingy little brass plate screwed to a bench, barely legible, which will be removed in ten years if you don't pay up again. It's always about money here.