Two young Grey Wagtails

The Grey Wagtails nesting at the Triangle have two young, which they brought over to the other side of the lake while they caught insects for them. Here are the two with their father on the empty swan nesting basket near the Lido restaurant terrace.

They were being fed at the landing stage by the Diana fountain and on the nearby shore.

The Pied Wagtails were also collecting insects for their young at Fisherman's Keep. The female had a good haul of midges ...

... but the male had only just flown in and didn't have any yet. They aren't hunting for the young Pied Wagtail we've seen, as this is older and already independent, so there are two broods on the Serpentine.

Swifts screamed as they caught midges above Knightsbridge. The two buildings are the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and the Park Tower Hotel.

I hadn't seen the Coal Tit pair in the Dell for a while, though loud squeaks from the yew tree at the southeast corner showed that they were both there. Today one noticed me and came down for some pine nuts.

This tatty Blue Tit is the one in the Rose Garden that goes mad with impatience when I'm trying to photograph it, flying about and landing on the camera.

A Great Tit hung from a cabbage palm leaf above an allium flower.

It's time to have another picture of the familiar male Robin at Mount Gate.

One of the three young Grey Herons in the third nest on the island had climbed to the top of the tree.

A heron used a duckboard in the Italian Garden fountains as a fishing station.

A pair of Great Crested Grebes rested near the Triangle.

A pair of Coots insist on making a nest in an exposed place on the edge of the Serpentine. A crack in the concrete makes a place to anchor the nest tenuously but it keeps getting washed away, after which the stubborn birds rebuild it. Nothing will come of this vain effort.

A pair of Egyptian Geese near the island had eight young only a few days old.

The Canadas with their three goslings rested on the grass east of the Lido.

The Gadwall x Mallard hybrid drake cruised past the Vista. Slightly raised wings show that he has blue secondaries like a Mallard, not white like a Gadwall.

A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee browsed on catmint by the Diana fountain.

Agitated Wren

A Wren in the Triangle shrubbery was in a frenzy of scolding. Probably there was a Magpie in the top of the tree.

On a chilly day with a biting east wind the small birds were hungrier. A female Great Tit in hawthorn blossom in the Rose Garden did her juvenile 'feed me' act, vibrating her wings and cheeping pitifully. This is what she does to encourage her mate to feed her when she's nesting, but this time it was directed at me.

In fact there was plenty to be had. A Blue Tit appeared in the big holm oak carrying two caterpillars. This was a single hasty shot with no time to move around for a better angle.

A Robin looked up expectantly from under a rose bush.

On the lawn outside the Rose Garden, a Stock Dove wandered through buttercups.

The Song Thrush could be heard at the back of the Lido.

There were a fair number of Swifts over the Serpentine.

A Reed Warbler appeared for a moment in the Diana fountain reed bed.

A male Chaffinch called for service in a lime tree near the Serpentine Gallery.

A Jay waited for a peanut near the Italian Garden.

The young Pied Wagtail was using the Lido jetty as a base for hunting midges. It's certainly able to look after itself.

The female Grey Wagtail trotted along the edge of the Lido restaurant terrace.

A Grey Heron admired its reflection in the Dell stream.

The usual heron was on the terrace railings hoping to stare the people at the tables into throwing it a titbit.

A couple of Herring Gulls chased it away, just for fun.

The single tatty Black-Headed Gull flew across the Serpentine and landed in its usual place at Fisherman's Keep. It may look a mess but it can fly perfectly well and is holding its own.

An Egyptian Goose by the Serpentine sheltered her new goslings from the wind.

The six teenagers were also feeling the chill, and went into a huddle like they did when they were little.

Green Woodpecker on an ants' nest

A Green Woodpecker on Buck Hill dug into an ants' nest and happily devoured the occupants. One sought refuge by climbing on to the bird's back. Thanks to Duncan Campbell for this video.

A Song Thrush was in good voice on a dead branch near the Italian Garden.

An immature male Blackbird flew into a tree by Magazine Gate. He has his adult black plumage, but not yet his bright yellow bill and eye ring.

A female lurked in a bush at Mount Gate.

A pair of Long-Tailed Tits hunted in the trees overhead.

The Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery dozed in the sunshine.

The male Grey Wagtail was hunting midges from a post by the bridge. Later he streaked down the Serpentine to the Dell stream, where midges are even more plentiful than under the bridge.

Ahmet Amerikali got a good picture of one of the Reed Warblers at the southwest corner of the bridge ...

... and also of a Firecrest in Battersea Park.

The Grey Heron sitting in the nnest at the east end of the island looked up for a moment.

We haven't been seeing much of Pigeon Eater lately, but today he was back on his home territory by the Dell restaurant.

The Coots on the nesting basket at the Triangle were doing some housekeeping, and you could see two of the eggs. I don't know how many they have, but the Mute Swan 4GIQ on the other side of the raft has six so there are a lot of eggs on this raft.

The swan 4FUF returned to her nest in the reeds east of the Lido. I could see two eggs, but she is good at covering them up and no doubt there are more.

Two Greylag Geese were fighting at the east end of the Serpentine.

The Canada family came to the edge of the Serpentine beside three of the six Egyptian teenagers.

A pair of Egyptians cropped algae off the rocks at the small waterfall in the Dell.

A Holly Blue butterfly fed on the cockspur hawthorn tree at Mount Gate.

A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee worked over the small flowers of a heuchera in the Rose Garden.

Crow vs heron

Carrion Crows hate Grey Herons, for no apparent reason as their lives hardly overlap. A crow saw a heron on the fallen poplar at the east side of the Vista and went for it, knocking it off the branch.

It's always fun watching a Starling having a wash. They do it with such vigour and enthusiasm, and obviously enjoy it.

The very impatient Blue Tit in the Rose Garden stopped dashing around and perched for a moment in a rose bush. Picture taken, it got fed. Maybe it'll learn soon that it has to pose for its portrait, as the little Coal Tits in the Dell have done -- though these seem to be busy nesting and I haven't seen them for a while.

A pair of Long-Tailed Tits hunted in the small trees at the foot of Buck Hill.

The male Robin of the pair at Mount Gate came out on the railings. I still haven't managed to see the young one.

A Wren perched on top of the corkscrew hazel bush in the Flower Walk.

A Reed Warbler showed for a moment in the reeds below the Diana fountain.

Both the Grey Wagtails were hunting midges over the Dell stream. This is the male perched on a rock in the small waterfall.

The six teenage Egyptian Geese on the Serpentine have now fully grown their flight feathers and are beginning to experiment with flying. It will be a while before they get it under control.

Their new wings are too large for them, as they aren't yet fully grown.

A blond pair stood on the edge at the boathouses.

The Canada Geese with three goslings, grazing on the south shore, saw a dog coming and made a dignified retreat to the safety of the water.

A Mandarin drake cruised by the Vista.

A female Common Blue Damselfly rested on the stonework of the Italian Garden. Males are blue, females come in various colours.

A Common Carder Bee browsed on cockspur hazel blossom at Mount Gate.

A small bee climbed out of a large double rose in the Rose Garden. It's some kind of solitary beee, maybe an Andrena species, but it would be hard to tell more as I only got a head-on shot.