Another swan island

A Long-Tailed Tit near Peter Pan paused on a twig for a moment ...

... before flinging itself into the air.

Both the Coal Tits in the Dell were in the corkscrew hazel bush, calling in small clear voices.

One of them has a few white feathers above each eye, but I have no idea which is male and which is female.

There was a good turnout of small birds in the Rose Garden, including this Blue Tit.

The Robin by the Diana fountain came down to take pine nuts from the path for the first time.

By the time I got to Mount Gate it was drizzling, but the faithful Robin came out when called.

A Jay near Peter Pan needed no calling to tuen up for a peanut.

The male Peregrine, not seen for some time, was on the Knightsbridge Barracks tower.

Herring Gulls grow up quite slowly, taking four years to reach full adulthood. This young gull flirting with an adult is only a year and a half old.

The dominant Black-Headed Gull on the landing stage is now in full breeding plumage.

Another perched on the head of one of the river nymphs in the Italian Garden. She is dreadfully eroded. When the Italian Garden was made in 1860 the builders were fobbed off with an inferior grade of Portland limestone which has not lasted at all well.

A Grey Heron perched on top of a holly tree by the bridge, scaring off the Wood Pigeons which had come to eat the berries.

Another stood on a brand new nesting island intended for Mute Swans, which has just been placed by the Diana fountain reed bed. 

This may attract the swans that have previously nested in a very unsuitable place nearby at the Lido restaurant terrace. Nevertheless, it is less than a hundred yards from the other new nesting island, and both places will be exposed to conflict from the killer swan from the Long Water, as well as by swans from the island, so a lot of fighting and attacks on cygnets are to be expected. There are already too many swans in the park, and in the opinion of several sensible people installing these islands is a serious mistake.

The Black Swan was by the buoys at the Lido. He had temporarily abandoned his pursuit of 4GIQ as two male Mute Swans were cruising nearby with wings raised menacingly.

Jenna explained the presence of this Canada Goose on the fallen tree at Peter Pan. It's the mate of the one that died, sadly standing in a familiar place where the pair used to go.

Almost all the Great Crested Grebes have left, including the young ones. There may be as few as two in the park now. This one was fishing under moored boats at the island.

The miscellaneous small weeds growing along the edge of the shrubbery at the Triangle gave a pair of Moorhens a choice of tasty morsels. Egyptian Geese also like this place, and I have seen a witch here gathering herbs for her potions.

Are Coal Tits increasing?

The male Chaffinch in the Rose Garden is difficult to feed. Chaffinches won't come to your hand and have to be fed on the ground, but there they have to contend with all the other birds.

There are now four regular pairs of Coal Tits and I saw three of them: in the Rose Garden ...

... in the Dell ...

... and at Mount Gate. Not sure whether numbers of these charming little birds are increasing, or that they're just learning that they'll get fed in return for posing for a photograph.

The Robin at Mount Gate came out of a bush when called.

Jays appeared all round the Long Water. This one was near the Italian Garden ...

... and this one by Temple Gate ...

... where there was also a Magpie in the top of a hawthorn.

The amazingly fruitful holly tree here still has plenty of berries, but the Wood Pigeons have eaten all the easy ones and are have to reach farther.

The Rose-Ringed Parakeets, perfectly camouflaged against green leaves, are now becoming conspicuous.

Our one and only Grey Wagtail was hunting along the south shore of the Serpentine. After I had finished filming it and was going away, as usual there was furious tweeting as pair of Pied Wagtails who think they own the strip turned up and chased it off.

Another nest on the Serpentine island has been claimed by a Grey Heron, the one in the middle of the shore side of the island. This was a successful site in the previous season.

More Common Gulls are arriving. This one was on a post at the Triangle.

A Great Crested Grebe looked for fish in submerged fallen leaves by the bridge, and found one.

Moorhens will eat practically anything, and grass is on the menu.

The Black Swan was back following 4GIQ. Yesterday her inattentive Mute mate reappeared and claimed her, and then both of them were chased away by the killer swan.

This Canada dozing on a fallen tree at Peter Pan is not the one I photographed here last week, which since then has sadly died for reasons that are still unknown. Oddly this one looks very like it, with an odd droopy tail.

More seasonal confusion: the flowering paperbushes in the Dell have been joined by a dogwood putting out blossom among faded yellow leaves.

The rival Robin

This is the Robin at the other end of the rival dialogue I filmed yesterday, and again you can hear it being answered from the next bush.

One of the Coal Tits turned up on a rose twig.

The Little Owl seen by the Queen's Temple was the female again. Both are sitting out alternately in the same hole, a good sign.

The Jay was here too, but near the temple and not presenting a threat to the owl.

Another Jay was waiting at Peter Pan. They are organising their winter begging schedule, but I am more than happy to give them peanuts.

The same goes for Magpies, birds that we take for granted but attract oohs and ahs from American visitors. This one was on the east side of the Long Water, but they come out all over Kensington Gardens.

In Hyde Park another perched on a lamp post by the Diana fountain.

The Robin was on the fountain enclosure railings again. It's a new arrival and hasn't yet grasped the idea that people want to feed it ...

... unlike the old regular at Mount Gate, which was back again on the usual place on the railings.

Someone is constantly bringing apples to this place on the east side of the Long Water, cutting them in half and spiking them on the railings. The Rose-Ringed Parakeets love this feeding station, as long as the apples are red -- they are very fussy about this. I don't approve of feeding these invasive pests but they are undeniably pretty.

A Grey Heron flew up out of the top nest on the island and landed in a treetop, from which it kept an eye on the nest.

Another was occupying the nest at the east end. There are definitely thoughts of breeding. It's only a couple of weeks to the time they styarted last year.

The dominant Black-Headed Gull was patrolling his territory on the landing stage. This has nothing to do with breeding, which the gulls do elsewhere. It's about status.

The last remaining Cormorants are clearly finding it hard to catch any more fish. This one was in a pool in the Italian Garden, which they have already emptied of anything not too large or small to eat.

Most of the Great Crested Grebes have now left, including this year's young. I think they all go to the river, upstream from Chiswick. One remained by the Serpentine outflow.

A Moorhen wandered along the edge at the Vista.

Egyptian Geese are halfway between ducks and geese, and something they have from the duck side is brightly coloured plumage. The tiny vermiculations on the beige areas are particularly delicate.

A pair of Little Owls?

A Robin in the Rose Garden sang in competition with a rival in the next bush, which you can hear answering.

One of the Coal Tits also appeared in the hawthorn tree ...

... as well as one in the yew in the Dell ...

... and one in the Flower Walk. There are pairs in all these places but mostly you see one at a time.

The Little Owl at the Vista is tricky to photograph in the hole on a sunny day, as the hole is on the shaded side of the tree and you have to stand in the tree's shadow to avoid glare.

I'm not sure, but I don't think this is the one I saw here earlier. Little Owls' eyebrows are very mobile but these are definitely smaller than the first owl's and it looks like a female. It's good news if there's a pair here.

The owl was frightened back into the hole by a Jay landing on a branch in front of it.

A Carrion Crow in the Rose Garden ate a rat in front of the floral boder, to suitably dreadful musical accompaniment from the funfair.

The usual pair of Magpies followed me down the east side of the Long Water.

You put out one peanut for each of them, well spaced apart, and of course the bolder bird swoops down and takes both of them. You wouldn't think a Magpie could hold two peanuts.

I didn't manage to call the Robin out at Mount Gate, but this Magpie was there looking through fallen leaves. The interesting thing about this very ordinary picture is that it was taken at sunset in the shade. I used the low light function of the Lumix FZ-2000 camera and the result is quite good. No retouching of the picture has been done.

It ws the turn of a Wood Pigeon to perch on the dead tree by the Italian Garden.

A Grey Heron fished under the sunlit willow at the bridge.

Pigeon Eater enjoyed the sunshine in his favourite place on the Dell restuarant roof.

The Black Swan collected his current Mute girlfriend 4GIQ from a crowd and followed her across the lake. It's not clear what she thinks of his attentions, but she doesn't actually chase him away.

A new swan nesting island has been installed on the Serpentine not far from the new reed bed at the bridge. Woven from withies, it looks like a big dog basket. It's stronger than it looks as it has a wooden frame. It should serve the purpose well, but its effect on the swan politics of the lake has to be seen.

The single young Egyptian Goose was preening in a puddle on the horse ride. Then it spotted me and came over hoping to be fed. A lot of people are feeding it, and it's very spoilt.

A large black bracket fungus on one of the small plane trees by the boathouses. It's probably too old and dark to identify.

The Moon, still one day off full, rose over the Wasteland.

It's a 'supermoon', nearer than usual and looking larger. As Shakespeare remarked in Othello,

She comes more near the earth than she was wont,

And makes men mad.