The Diet of Worms

A Song Thrush picked up a worm it had hauled out and set off to its nest in the bushes behind the Queen's Temple.

A female Chaffinch in the hawthorn north of Peter Pan had caught a midge.

I don't think this male Pied Wagtail hunting midges at the bridge has a mate (he isn't the familiar one recovering from a sore foot). Perhaps that's why he was calling so insistently.

A Blue Tit perched on the lichen-covered branches of a dead tree on the edge of the Rose Garden.

A Wren posed on a bin in the Dell.

The male Robin of the pair at Mount Gate came out by himself and picked up all the pine nuts he could carry. It looks as if his mate is nesting now.

A Jackdaw near the Speke obelisk trotted up confidently to ask for a peanut.

A Cormorant at the Serpentine island found a patch of grass growing in a wire basket and made itself comfortable.

The Great Crested Grebe pair at the east end of the island rested together by the moored boats.

On the other side of the lake a male in his full summer finery finished preening and called for his mate.

This pair of Mute Swans was in the same place on the island yesterday. It's fairly certain that they're going to nest here, which will give a fine view from the shore.

A swan has come down in a fountain pool in the Italian Garden. It can't fly out, but I've often seen swans leave the Italian Garden on foot. First they rush over the water, crash full tilt into the sloping kerb, and flap out on to the pavement -- it looks awful but they are well padded with feathers and not injured. Then they lurch down the steps of the marble fountain, flop into the bowl, flop from there into the lake, and swim away serenely as if they did it every day. I have also seen one take off from the ground outside the garden.

The six eldest Egyptian goslings were wandering over the lake unsupervised by their parents. They are really out of danger now on the water, though dogs remain a threat on land until they can fly.

The sole young Egyptian to survive on the Serpentine last year is often seen by the boathouses. The swelling on its foot has almost completely subsided. It will always have a big scar, but it's walking and running perfectly well.

A patch of comfrey in the Dell was alive with bees, almost all female Hairy-Footed Flower Bees, which seem to be active later in spring than the males.

But there was one patch of bright ginger, the first Common Carder I've seen this year. It was whizzing around non-stop and this poor picture was the best I could get.

A hoverfly rested on a leaf. It looks like a Eupeodes species but not the common E. luniger, as the yellow patches on its abdomen join in the middle. Maybe E. nitens?

Much more ordinary, a Common Drone Fly, Eristalis tenax, wandered over a polyanthus in the Rose Garden. This is the first one I've definitely seen this year.

A swarm of Honeybees

A complete surprise today: a swarm of Honeybees appeared in a hawthorn tree by the Italian Garden. There are hives in the Ranger's Lodge Garden, so with luck the beekeeper ought to be able to collect and install them.

A male Hairy-Footed Flower bee was busily scraping at a dead leaf by the leaf yard. I couldn't work out what it was doing. Females build nests themselves, in holes in the ground, and as far as I know the male plays no role here.

The Reed Warblers have arrived from Africa. In fact I heard one last week tentatively beginning to sing in the reeds on the Long Water, and yesterday there was one in full song at the Vista, but you can't get a picture in either of these places. This one was in the reed bed under the Diana fountain. I got a picture of it among the reeds, but Ahmet Amerikali got a better one when it flew into a small tree.

The female Grey Wagtail was hunting along the edge of the Dell restaurant terrace ...

... and a male Pied Wagtail used a post at the bridge as a base for chasing midges.

The young male Chaffinch in the Flower Walk came to be fed. I haven't seen the old one here for a while, and it seems to have moved to the bridge.

The Robin is now always waiting, and follows me for some distance. After a while they realise that they can spare the effort by standing on my hand and collecting half a dozen pine nuts in one visit, but this hasn't occurred to it yet.

A visit to Mount Gate to feed the three familiar Robins there usually produces other birds as well. A Jay waited in front of the pink-flowered cherry tree ...

... and a pair of Long-Tailed Tits were going through the new leaves. I don't know whether they take sap from buds as Blue Tits do, or whether they were just looking for insects.

The cercis in the Rose Garden is in full flower, so it was definitely time to photograph a Blue Tit.

Two Feral Pigeons fought and chased each other on the ground nearby.

One of the young Grey Herons from the second nest on the island had come right down on to a wire basket and was looking utterly goofy.

A pair of Great Crested Grebes displayed by the moored boats. They have a choice of two nest sites nearby.

The Coot chicks from the nest under the Italian Garden had their first expedition on the lake to be fed by their parents.

The Black Swan had enticed his girlfriend 4GIQ on to the nest at the landing stage. Virginia found her shifting twigs about and looking quite at home, and took this picture on her phone. 

But when I got there she had left and was in the middle of the lake watching the Black Swan chase away her proper mate. He then had a triumphant flap.

The swans nesting at the Lido restaurant now have seven eggs ...

... and so do the pair in the Caroline enclosure.

The six eldest Egyptian goslings on the Serpentine were catching midges flying low over the water. The goslings can't live on grass and algae alone: they need extra protein to grow.

In the Dell stream, the female Mallard was being harassed by drakes. Virginia found three of them at it, and I saw two. She gave them a contemptuous look.

Blackcap and Dunnock at Mount Gate

A Blackcap sang at Mount Gate in front of a cherry tree with pink blossom.

A Dunnock appeared for a moment behind the railings.

A pair of Long-Tailed Tits flitted around in the Flower Walk. I think they get that bend in their tail from sitting in the nest. It straightens out after a few minutes' flying.

One of the Blue Tits in the Dell is now coming to my hand to take pine nuts.

Ahmet Amerikali found the Cetti's Warbler at the Vista again. Probably the reason why they are more visible here than anywhere else is that they have to approach the edge of the bushes before crossing the gap. The first time I got a reasonable picture of one, way back in 2015, was here too.

A male Blackbird foraging on the lawn under the Henry Moore sculpture sang a couple of short phrases.

Both the Grey Wagtails were hunting from the posts at the bridge. This is the male.

One of the young Grey Herons from the second nest had come down on to a small tree on the shore. They have been ranging around quite a lot, and I'm sure it could get back to the nest ...

... where the other two were still in place.

A dramatic picture by Ahmet: a Great Crested Grebe under the Italian Garden with a perch that it only just managed to swallow.

A second Coot nest has hatched out, with five chicks visible, a short way south of the Peter Pan waterfront.

The five Egyptian goslings at the Lido annoyed their mother by fidgeting around when she wanted a rest.

The female Mute Swan nesting east of the Lido, 4FUF, was taking a turn off the nest. She looked at four of the six older Egyptian goslings. The other two were just along the shore. I couldn't see any eggs in the swan's nest, but they are good at covering them up when they leave.

Two Canada x Greylag Goose hybrids cruised under the bridge. Despite their different appearance they're quite likely to be siblings. These hybrids come out very variable.

The Canadas nesting on the Long Water were in place and all was peaceful. The gander may dislike the Coots nesting here but he won't be able to get rid of them.

Joan Chatterley found a good number of Mandarins on the lake in Battersea Park. They seem to come and go at random. Sometimes there aren't any.

There's a place in the Flower Walk where Speckled Wood butterflies appear every year. Today I saw six.

A very small bee rested on a polyanthus leaf in the Rose Garden. It looks like one of the many species of Andrena mining bees.

Singing Wren

A Wren sang and preened on a twig by the Henry Moore sculpture.

A Robin perched in cherry blossom by Peter Pan.

I almost missed the pair of Robins at Mount Gate, but they saw me leaving and flew out to catch me in a tree by the Albert Memorial. This is the female with her distinctive untidy feathers.

They were accompanied by a Blue Tit.

The Long-Tailed Tits nesting in the hedge of the Ranger's Cottage garden were bouncing about in the trees.

I couldn't see the Little Owl here, or the one at the Serpentine Gallery, a disappointment on a warm sunny day. The Ranger's Lodge tree had a pair of Stock Doves in it, a nuisance for the owls as they are rivals for holes and very persistent in occupying them.

Chiffchaffs were singing all round the lake but I couldn't get a picture. However, Ahmet Amerikali got a close-up of one at Russia Dock Woodland.

A Carrion Crow had been bathing on the fallen poplar at Peter Pan, and perched on the trunk to dry in the sunshine.

A Grey Heron was squatting in the Caroline enclosure. You don't often see one in this odd posture. It's actually sitting on its tarsi, the joints that correspond to human heels but in a bird's leg are much higher up.

The solitary Moorhen in the Dell has a favourite rock in the stream where it likes to rest, though it's often pushed off it by Mallards.

A Coot brought a titbit to the chicks in the nest under the Italian Garden.

There seems to be a second Canada Goose nest on the Long Water opposite Peter Pan. This shouldn't cause conflict with the one on the swan nesting island as it's a reasonable distance away and Canadas are tolerant of each other's families -- indeed they often cooperate in looking after goslings. But it's not a safe place with foxes ranging along the shore.

The Egyptian Geese with five goslings at the Lido have taken to resting on the jetty when there are crowds of visitors passing by on the shore. They have occasional trouble with Coots but can easily shoo them.

The female mute Swan 4FUF was sitting comortably on her best in the reeds east of the Lido.

Her mate 4FYY was patrolling the water with his wings raised menacingly.

The single Mandarin drake was on the Serpentine. He chased a Coot that had come too close.

A female Hairy-Footed Flower Bee fed on cercis blossom in the Rose Garden.

The odd angle makes it hard to identify this hoverfly, but the colours on top of its abdomen suggest that it's just a Common Drone Fly, Eristalis tenax. Later: a suggestion that it's likely to be Epistrophe elegans (or eligans, which I would think is a misspelling but often occurs).