Pairs and singles

A male Blackcap ...

... and a female were in a scrubby patch near the Italian Garden ...

... and so were a male Chaffinch ...

... and his mate.

A male Greenfinch was singing in a treetop ...

... but this isn't his mate, as she was on the other side of the Long Water.

Singles included a Dunnock, which Ahmet Amerikali found in the hawthorn north of Peter Pan ...

... a Jay just up the path ...

... a male Great Spotted Woodpecker in a lime on the other side ...

... and a Jackdaw a few yards away.

A Chiffchaff behind the Lido paused from picking seeds out of alder fruit to have a song. Typically, it hopped around between phrases, making it hard to flim.

A Coal Tit was also here, feeding on the catkins of a black poplar. Most Coal Tits have a two-note song, but this has three.

A Blue Tit waited in a berberis at Mount Gate.

A pair of Mandarins preened on a rock in the little stream in the Dell.

The male Mute Swan at the Lido restaurant was preening on his nest, waiting for his mate to be ready.

The Canada Goose on the swans' nesting island in the Long Water was still holding her precarious nest.

A fox wandered through the grass on the west side of the lake.

A beetle crossed the path at the Vista. This is a Black Clock Beetle, Pterostichus madidus, also called a Rain Beetle, and there is a belief that if you kill one this makes it rain. Luckily it crossed to the other side unharmed.

A good day for thrushes

It was a late and hasty visit to the park today, as the lock on my front door had seized up and I had to get a locksmith to drill it out and replace it, so today's pictures are a bit routine.

A dull drizzly day suited a Song Thrush fine, as it made it easy to get worms. He sang happily in a treetop by the leaf yard.

A female Blackbird looked for worms on the lawn around the Henry Moore sculpture.

A Jay at the Vista was clearly impatient at being photographed instead of fed.

So was a Coal Tit at Mount Gate which was bouncing about in a tree, making it difficult to get a shot.

The pair in the corkscrew hazel in the Dell are accustomed to the slight delay, and pose nicely.

Purple cercis blossom in the Rose Garden made a pretty frame for a Blue Tit ...

... and a Great Tit.

A Blackcap sang in a sweetgum tree behind the Lido.

A year-old Grey Heron in the Dell peered earnestly into a backwater at the top of the small waterfall. It had just picked out a dead leaf to get a better view and put it on a rock.

The Coots' nest at the bridge is now very large, thanks to plenty of loose twigs in the Triangle shrubbery.

The Coots building a nest in a silly place on the edge of the Serpentine are still persisting with their hopeless enterprise. Usually even a Coot realises it's no good and gives up after a few days, but this pair is really stubborn.

A Canada Goose ate the tender young leaves of a weeping willow, while another preferred grass.

The female Canada on the Mute Swans' nesting island on the Long Water was still in place ...

... while her mate patrolled the water. The swans were far down the lake. Perhaps the boss swan was shaken by the furious resistance he met when he tried to evict the pair.

The Black Swan's uncertain girlfriend 4GIQ was ashore in front of the Big Bird statue, while the Black Swan was in the water nearby. Maybe his attentions had got too pressing and she wanted to keep clear of him.

A female Mallard in the Dell was being harassed by two drakes.

The six eldest Egyptian goslings on the Serpentine were is a neat huddle.

I couldn't see what was annoying this Grey Squirrel by the bridge, but it was certainly in a bad mood.

Plenty of Blackcaps

Three Blackcaps were leaping around in a hawthorn tree near Peter Pan, catching midges in midair.

They weren't put off by a Jay in the same tree.

There was a brief view of a Blackcap singing in a red-leafed cherry at the northwest corner of the bridge.

Blue Tits are as numerous in the Rose Garden as Great Tits, which is unusual for the park. More gathered in the corkscrew hazel in the Dell ...

... along with the usual pair of Coal Tits.

A Great Tit perched in juneberry blossom in the shrubbery east of the Lido.

Currant blossom at Mount Gate made a bright background for a Robin.

The male Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery came out on the chestnut tree as the sunshine warmed up a chilly day.

The Great Crested Grebe pair at Fisherman's Keep exchanged courtesies in the intervals of fishing together.

A Grey Heron was fishing in the reeds under the Italian Garden.

The Canada Geese are keeping possession of the Mute Swans' nesting island. The boss swan and his mate were away beating up the swans on the Serpentine, and didn't bother them.

The Egyptian Geese at the Lido have been taking good care of their goslings and still had seven.

A pair of Mandarins washed and, unexpectedly, dived in the little stream in the Dell.

Three terrapins sunbathed opposite Peter Pan. The one in the middle seems to be a Yellow-Bellied Slider, as it doesn't have the red stripe of a Red-Eared Slider. At least one of the others is the latter, as seen from earlier photographs. All the terrapins in the lake are dumped pets, as it's not warm enough here for their eggs to hatch.

This is the first Common Carder Bee I've seen this year, on a polyanthus in the Rose Garden.

A female Hairy-Footed Flower Bee approached a wallflower to insert its very long probsoscis. It's the first female I've seen ...

... though there have been lots of males. You'd hardly think the two were the same species.

I didn't know there were white Snakeshead Fritillaries, but there were some in the Flower Walk among the usual, and much prettier, purple kind.

Windy day

A female Great Spotted Woodpecker climbed around in a tree near the Dell in the strong wind, which also made it very hard to hold the camera steady.

Pigeon Eater and his mate were bounced about by the waves on the Serpentine. She took the opportunity to have a wash and flew up to the restaurant roof. He came ashore.

This Lesser Black-Backed Gull on the boat hire platform has dark eyes, a sign that it has had the bird flu and recovered. So far the park seems to have been spared an outbreak.

A pair of Great Crested Grebes dozed peacefully as they were bounced up and down by the choppy waves.

The six Egyptian goslings at Fisherman's Keep huddled together to keep warm.

There are still seven at the Lido. Their parents had taken them on to the grassy bank to feed. The seventh gosling can just be ssen at the top with its father.

The Canada gander on the swan nesting island was guarding his mate on her nest.

The dominant Mute Swan pair were at a safe distance on the gravel strip, so all was peaceful for the moment.

The male swan at the Lido restaurant terrace was back on the nest, claiming it for when his mate was ready.

One of the two young Grey Herons in the top nest had climbed up into a treetop.

The familiar female Grey Wagtail was twittering loudly on the roof of the boat hire building, and looked over the edge.

A Great Tit called for attention from the Diana reed bed. The plant it is on is Fiddle Dock, Rumex pulcher, which means 'beautiful dock' but it seems to be a pretty ordinary straggly thing even when its small flowers are out.

A Blue Tit on the railings of the Dell was also making itself noticed ...

... and it flew along to the corkscrew hazel bush, the usual feeding place, where it was joined by one of the Coal Tit pair.

The Robin at the southwest corner of the bridge was singing, and finished its song before it came over for a pine nut.

A Jay waited for a peanut in a tree near Peter Pan.

Several patches of pretty Purple Deadnettles have come up near the Diana fountain car park. The white-flowered form also appears in the park.

The Huntress fountain in the Rose Garden has been repaired and is working, but for how long? It seldom keeps going for more than a fortnight despite its expensive recent renovation.