Meandering?

A good selection of birds gathered at Mount Gate, but just the usual Great Tits and Robins, but a Long-Tailed Tit ...

... two Coal Tits ...

... a Jay ...

... and a Magpie under the currant bush.

A Blue Tit in the Rose Garden perched among budding leaves in a hawthorn. 

The Robin from the southwest corner of the bridge followed me to the Vista, taking pine nuts along the way.

Greenfinches were moving around in the trees north of Peter Pan. They have been breeding here for several years.

The familiar male Chaffinch was in the Flower Walk, dwarfed by the big leaves and flowers of a magnolia.

The official Kensington Gardens web page describes the walk as 'meandering', a strange word to use for a path that runs dead straight for 200 yards.

The flower patch in the Rose Garden made a pretty background for a Carrion Crow. It started as a patch of native wildflowers, but now this seems to have been forgotten and it's miniature narcissi and squills.

A male Pied Wagtail was hunting in the little waves raised on the Serpentine by a brisk wind. This is the one that had a sore foot from an attack of avian pox, but seems to be recovering and can now run though clearly it's still painful.

A female was a short way off on the boat hire platform, a good hunting place because the ridged planks retain bird droppings which attract insects.

The three Grey Heron chicks could be seen in their nest.

The herons in the park are unlike those anywhere else. They follow people around in the hope of getting fed.

The number of Cormorants seems to be going up, although the fish supply is still at its seasonal lowest. Seven stood on the fallen poplar at Peter Pan.

A female Great Crested Grebe on the Serpentine carried a leaf to her mate, not to do a dance or build a nest, but just as an encouraging sign that they might do either.

I keep hearing the Little Grebe on the Long Water but have only ever managed to see it once, at a distance. However, Ahmet Amerikali was in Southwark Park and got a good view of one on the small lake where it's easier to see.

The six Egyptian goslings at Fisherman's Keep were enjoying a preening session. They're growing quickly, though far from out of danger yet.

Two Mandarin drakes and a female moved along the edge.

In the forsythia

The male Chaffinch who follows me around Kensington Gardens perched in the forsythia at Mount Gate ...

... and a Robin lurked inside the bush.

The other pair of Robins were out on the path expecting pine nuts.

A Blue Tit waited in cherry blossom in the Flower Walk.

Ahmet Amerikali got good pictures of a Chiffchaff on the east side of the Long Water ...

... and a male Great Spotted Woodpecker by the Vista.

Both the Grey Wagtails were at the edge of the Lido restaurant terrace. This is the male, with a black bib.

He flew over to the non-slip rubber matting on the Lido jetty. Bird droppings collect in the grooves and attract insects, so it's a good hunting ground.

Both of the older pair of Grey Heron chicks are now starting to wander out of their nest. Here they are standing on an old nest below it and a short leap away. Soon they will be venturing farther, but always returning to the nest to be fed.

The three chicks in the second nest haven't yet reached the wandering stage.

A pair of Great Crested Grebes were building a nest in a reed bed on the Long Water. They were making it out of twigs and weed in the usual sloppy way. It didn't occur to them that they could make a much better nest out of reeds. The grebes in places such as the Norfolk Broads have learnt to use reeds, as there is nothing else available.

The abandoned grebe nest in the reed bed at the outflow has been taken over by Coots, who are rebuilding it properly.

Rival Coots fought and chased each other on the Serpentine. The loser was held under water till he submitted and crept away.

A pair of Mute Swans were beginning to collect twigs and rubbish to make a nest beside one of the boathouses. The place is protected by railings, but it's still too public and no swans have ever succeeded here.

The Black Swan was still obsessively following 4GIQ.

The Egyptian Geese at Fisherman's Keep were shepherding their six young into the water as a dog approached. Sunny weekends with lots of visitors and their dangerous pets are a stressful time for them.

A pair of Mallards dabbled in fallen leaves under the balcony of the Dell restaurant.

A male Hairy-Footed Flower Bee fed on a wallflower in the Rose Garden.

Three young herons in the second nest

Grey Heron chicks have a habit of turning out to be more than expected as they grow larger. I was sure there were only two in the second nest on the island, but today three could be clearly seen lurching about.

Starlings love mayonnaise, and a little pot left on a table on the Lido restaurant terrace gave them a chance to enjoy it.

The Grey Wagtail pair were hunting insects together on the edge of the terrace. The male is the one with the black bib, and it's he who has recently arrived to join the female who has been here alone all winter.

The male Pied Wagtail was by the island catching midges in the air. The avian pox blisters on one foot are clearly still painful and he was only putting it down occasionally.

A female Great Spotted Woodpecker climbed a branch on the north edge of the Rose Garden.

There are definitely more Coal Tits in the park this year. A new one I haven't seen before turned up in the bushes north of Peter Pan.

The familiar pair in the Dell flew into the corkscrew hazel bush. They are content to wait quietly while I put pine nuts on the railings for them.

The Blue Tit pair were chasing each other around and didn't stay still for a moment.

A pair of Magpies at the southwest corner of the bridge were also flirting and leaping from branch to branch.

This warbler was jumping around in a tree at the edge of the water. It seemed to be the size of a Blackcap but the colour of a rather dull Chiffchaff, and I can't identify it for certain. Here are two pictures, not altered in any way. It was in shade at the bottom of the tree which probably made it look darker than it really is.

The usual Robin here watched from the brambles.

The pair at Mount Gate were together in a bush. The female, on the left, is not noticeably larger, she's just nearer the camera and inevitably one of them is out of focus.

A Great Crested Grebe at the island caught a largish fish with a spiny dorsal fin, so that it had to be turned round before being swallowed. It wasn't a perch as it didn't have red fins, but its body seemed to have a reddish tinge so it probably wasn't a ruffe either. I am no good at fish.

A grebe was sitting in the reeds on the east side of the Long Water. It didn't seem to be nesting, just sitting on some reeds trampled down by Coots nesting nearby.

As usual there was a group of Mute Swans by the reed bed east of the Lido. The pair 4FYY and 4FUF, which are claiming the nest site in the reeds, were standing nearest the entrance to deter intruders.

The Black Swan ventured on to the Long Water, saw the boss swan watching from the Vista, and quickly left with a mournful hoot.

A Mandarin drake came over to the Vista alone. There was no sign of the female of the pair seen before. Maybe there are two drakes.

A windy day

It was a day of strong gusty wind. A Carrion Crow at the Albert Memorial was lying down to avoid getting blown about.

A Wood Pigeon enjoyed cherry blossom in a windswept tree at the Triangle.

In another cherry beside the Long Water a Long-Tailed Tit was collecting lichen for a nest, which is in the brambles beside the path leading down to the pond dipping place.

A Blue Tit perched among purple cercis buds in the Rose Garden.

Another looked out of a nest box by the Italian Garden. These boxes are old and dilapidated and the park management never think about cleaning or maintaining them, and it's surprising that the the tit still considers it usable.

The forsythia at Mount Gate made a pretty background for a Great Tit ...

... and a Jay.

The faithful female Robin was waiting on the railings as usual ...

... and her mate was along the path in a tree.

A Jay found a space between the murderous spikes of the Russian Olive in the Rose Garden.

Unsurprisingly, the Little Owl was staying inside his hole, but the male Peregrine was out on the tower. He was on the downwind side but even so was getting ruffled.

You might have expected the young Grey Herons to be keeping down out of the wind, but in fact they seemed to be enjoying it.

A pair of Herring Gulls at the Triangle would have liked to have a courting ritual but a rival suitor turned up.

The new ramp for the swimmers at the Lido has proved to be a popular fishing spot for herons and Cormorants, and today it was the turn of a pair of Great Crested Grebes. The space under the ramp is clearly a place where fish lurk.

The Coots' nest in the reed bed under the Italian Garden is getting larger and larger as the restless birds keep bringing reeds to it. There's no sign of eggs in any of the visible Coot nests yet.

The Mute Swans on the Serpentine were in a belligerent mood and there was a lot of chasing, with Herring Gulls flying along as interested spectators.

The Black Swan was near his nest by the landing stage with 4GIQ. I still don't think he's going to coax her into nesting.

The lone teenager at the reed bed by the outflow was with his father, who was building a nest out of cut reeds laid down for his use. The time is close when the parents will chase the young swan off and he will have to get used to an ordinary swan's life on the crowded l;ake.