Another Grey Wagtail family?

A young Robin came out on the railings at the northwest corner of the bridge. It's only the second one I've seen this year.

The bushes everywhere were loud with young Great Tits demanding food from their long-suffering parents. One did come to my hand for the first time today, showing that they will be independent soon.

The newly confident Coal Tit followed me from the Serpentine Gallery to the bridge.  Once they have dared to take food from your hand they become quite peristent.

The Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was back in his usual lime tree. It was surprising to find him here, as it was drizzling and owls hate being rained on.

There are Wrens all along the shrubbery at the east side of the Long Water and at the Triangle just the other side of the bridge. There are also plenty of Magpies which the Wrens furiously scold, and seem to live in a perpetual state of fury.

A Magpie waited for to collect a peanut from the railings.

Most of the Jays have picked up the trick of grabbing a peanut from someone's hand in flight. It's a more reliable way of getting food than waiting for it to be put down where it might be grabbed by some other bird.

A Song Thrush sang in a holly tree a few yards north of Peter Pan. This tree is a gathering place for all kinds of birds thanks to the protection of its spiky evergreen leaves, but it's also a very hard place to get a photograph as there are few clear spaces.

It looks as if there are two families of Grey Wagtails in the park. We've seen plenty of the ones from the nest at the Triangle, and the two chicks have grown up and are independent. But today there was a female adult on the lawn in the Dell collecting insects. So there must be a second nest, probably beside the waterfall where there have been nests before.

A Moorhen clambered over the rocks beside the small waterfall.

The fountain heads in the Italian Garden have a small space underneath, and Coots often try to make nests here. There's nothing inside that a nest could be anchored to so the attempt always fails, but that doesn't stop these stubborn birds from trying.

There are so many Coot nests around the Long Water that it's impossible to keep track of the various families. A chick stood on a nest opposite Peter Pan.

The Black Swan is still sitting on the eggs on the nesting raft, a vain endeavour.

His mate the Mute 4GIQ has realised that it's useless expecting any more eggs to hatch, and is devoting herself to looking after the single hybrid cygnet.

The park is crowded with Canada and Greylag Geese that have come in to moult their flight feathers, and there was a flock on the Long Water. In previous years the boss Mute Swan would have chased them back on to the Serpentine, but now he's gone there is no opposition to them. The swan pair 4HDW and 4DTT seem to have abandoned their attempt to nest on the gravel strip.

The Egyptian Geese who originally had eleven goslings near the small bothouses are now down to seven. They were feeding by the horse ride.

Sad to say, the Pochard on the Long Water has only one duckling left. I don't think they have ever bred successfully in the park in recent years.

Cygnet calls

The hybrid cygnet was following its mother 4GIQ on the Serpentine while the father turned over the remaining eggs -- though it seems most unlikely now that any of these will hatch. Note at 7 seconds the call the cygnet makes, a small version of its father's hoot and quite different from the peeping of a Mute cygnet.

I'm putting up this video of the Mute Swans on the Serpentine with five cygnets to show the high-pitched peeping sound the cygnets make, quite different from the hoot of the hybrid cygnet at the other end of the lake.

Jenna photographed both parents on the nest raft this morning inspecting the eggs in a worried way. The Black Swan insists on sitting on them for a while in the inceasingly vain hope that they will hatch.

Another picture from this morning taken by Jorgen: the original mate of 4GIQ came over to look at the cygnet. He didn't seem to be jealous or hostile.

The three Canada goslings were preening at the Vista, showing their developing flight feathers emerging in their blue wrappings.

David Lacey took this picture of the silliest nest of the year, made by a Moorhen in a pedalo. Even the Coots don't behave as foolishly as this.

The three latest Grey Heron chicks could be seen together in the nest at the east end of the island.

One of the young herons from last year walked carefully along a fallen tree at Peter Pan.

An interesting picture sent by Theodore: a young Jay. Although Jays must be breeding in the park I've never seen one younger than an independent teenager, or for that matter a young Jackdaw. But young Carrion Crows and Magpies are often seen.

A teenage Magpie at Mount Gate was already expecting to be given a peanut, which it successfully opened.

The male Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was in the chestnut tree.

This male Blackbird is often seen in a holly tree by Magazine Gate.

A young Great Tit looked out from a tree by the Buck Hill shelter. They're still depending on their parents for food.

We haven't been seeing so much of the Robins at Mount Gate, but today the female came out on the fence to take some pine nuts.

The herbaceous borders in the Rose Garen are empty now while the summer plantings are being organised, so there are fewer insects than usual. A patch of salvia among the roses attracted Buff-Tailed Bumblebees.

The area between the Dell and the Rose Garden has a lot of exotic trees including several monkeypuzzles. The largest one has put out an impressive array of cones. It's a male tree and these are pollen cones.

There is also this unusual little tree, a Yew Plum Pine, Podophyllus macrocarpus, native to Japan and eastern China. This is no more than a sapling, and it can grow to 60 feet tall.

It has this peculiar name because its little cones develop into purplish-red fruits that are eaten by birds. It's worth keeping an eye on it to see what happens.

A new pair of Chaffinches

There were two pairs of Chaffinches in the Flower Walk: the old familiar pair and these younger ones, All were expecting pine nuts.

One of the Coal Tit pair at the Serpentine Gallery came to my hand again. The other one still hasn't dared to.

The male Little Owl was in the chestnut tree, which has plenty of leaves now so he doesn't need to seek cover in the lime next to it.

A young Magpie at the northwest corner of the bridge pestered a parent to feed it while an angry Wren scolded both of them.

There was another Wren a short way along the path shouting at another Magpie.

A Wood Pigeon reached down for fruit in a bird cherry tree near the Italian Garden.

One of the Reed Warblers here was singing from an unusual place, the top of  holly tree.

Another appeared for a moment in the reed bed by the Diana fountain, and I got one hasty shot before it vanished into the reeds.

The three latest Grey Heron chicks in the nest at the east end of the island shuffled and flapped while waiting for their parents to return.

Sad to say, the strong winds yesterday have destroyed the Great Crested Grebes' nest on the chain at the island. The nest was on the lee side of the island and  would have survived if the people at the boat hire had not tied a boat to the chain, depsite being asked not to. The female grebe consoled her mate by giving him a small fish -- not the other way round as you might suppose.

The male Black Swan was turning over the remaining eggs on the nest basket while his Mute mate took their single cygnet for a ride on the water. It's been three days since this cygnet hatched, and it doen't look as if the other eggs will hatch now. Thanks to Duncan Campbell for this video.

The cygnet, on its first day on the water, was already picking up midges and larvae.

The swans with five cygnets were at the Lido. Let's hope they don't go any closer to the Black Swan.

Another swan flew up the Serpentine.

The Canada Geese with three goslings were feeding on the grass at the Vista.

A female Black-Tailed Skimmer dragonfly perched on a Chilean rhubarb leaf in the Dell.

A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee gathered pollen on a red-hot poker flower in the Rose Garden.

Still only one hybrid cygnet

So far the Mute Swan 4GIQ mated to the Black Swan has hatched just one hybrid cygnet. It emerged two days ago, so it may be the only one and the other eggs are infertile. All cygnets, Black, Mute or hybrid, are the same pale grey colour.

A closer look at the cygnet shows a feature that Black cygnets have and Mute ones don't: a line running from its eye to the corner of its bill. This is called a lore and many birds have it, as the area bare of feathers allows it to see straight ahead out of its sideways-facing eyes.

The Black Swan was cruising around the Long Water ...

... but later visited them at the nest. Thanks to Jon Ferguson for this picture.

The swans with five cygnets were at the east end of the Serpentine, a safe distance from the Black Swan who started chasing other swans including 4GIQ's original mate.

A Moorhen rested comfortably in a rowing boat moored at the boat hire platform. Few people hire a rowing boat now, and rowing seems to be a lost art among the general public.

There's still no sign of hatching on the Great Crested Grebes' nest on the chain at the east end of the island.

The Pochard took her three ducklings across the Long Water.

The Gadwall drake from the Huntress fountain in the Rose Garden was wandering around the lawn. I hadn't seen before that he has a ring. I was able to make out some of the numbers, 68158 with the first and last not 100 per cent certain, and will try to read the rest of it.

The Grey Heron chicks were alone in the nest at the east end of the island, though their parents were flying nearby and keeping an eye on them.

A Pied Wagtail hunting along the edge of the Serpentine ran right under my feet. There are two pairs here, one where the male had a sore foot, now recovered, and this is the other male.

A female Great Tit in the Rose Garden seemed to be having a discussion with her mate about what what to do with their noisy fledgling, which can be seen out of focus in the background.

A closer look at the young one.

Another family was milling around in the red-leafed cherry tree near the circular yew hedge.

One of the Coal Tit pair by the Serpentine Gallery has now started coming to my hand, and the other one was having a look but is still hesitant. They watch the confident Great Tits before they decide it's safe.

This Wren is often seen and heard by the circle of benches in the Flower Walk from which a path leads to the Albert Memorial.

A Painted Lady butterfly in a clump of oxeye daisies used its long proboscis to drink from a floret, then coiled it up before flying away.