Shining Virtues

The two Robins at Mount Gate are a pair during the breeding season but maintain separate territories in winter. Both sing, but the male sings more and it's him in the bush at the far side. The female is usually quicker to come out to be fed.

A Coal Tit was waiting in the dogwood bush ...

... and the one by the bridge flew into a hawthorn near Temple Gate.

The Robin near the Buck Hill shelter now charges out of the bushes when it sees me coming, and ticks irritably if it thinks I haven't noticed.

The one in the Rose Garden also expects prompt service ...

... as do the two Coal Tits ...

... a small flock of Blue Tits ...

... and the male Chaffinch. I still see his mate occasionally but she's much shyer.

The corkscrew hazel in the Dell was occupied by several Great Tits ...

... and a Blue Tit perched in a bush at the corner.

A flock of Long-Tailed Tits was at work in the trees at the northwest corner of the bridge.

Although flocks travel constantly they also have favourite spots, and this is one of them and they nest here in spring. Other places are at the east end of the Lido swimming area, and in the Rose Garden.

The Pied Wagtail was on the roof of the boat hire building. They often go up here and evidently it's a good place for insects and larvae, probably because of an accumulation of bird droppings.

Later she returned to her usual hunting ground on the south side of the lake.

Pigeon Eater's mate was on the Dell restaurant roof ...

... watching him as he patrolled the edge looking for a chance.

A Cormorant was searching for fish in fallen leaves in the shallow water at the edge of the lake, and looking under the pontoon being used for bridge repairs. They have already caught most of the fish of edible size, and it didn't find anything while I was watching.

Some of the six young Mute Swans on the Long Water were examining some submerged object. Anything that falls into the lake, whether it's a branch, a bicycle or just a plastic bag, gets covered with small water snails which the swans find palatable.

As I passed the Albert Memorial on my way home, the low sunlight shone on the gilded statues of the Virtues near the top of the spire.

There are supposed to be only seven Virtues: the Christian Virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity; and the Cardinal Virtues of Fortitude, Prudence, Justice and Temperance. However, they needed eight for the sculptural scheme so they added Humility to the Christian ones, which are those inside the arches. The one in the middle of the picture is certainly Charity, and I think the one on the right of her must be Fortitude, as you would need that quality to read a book while holding a snake.

I was reminded of one of Alexander Pope's less brilliant couplets,

Thy virtues shine particularly nice,

Unmixed with a propensity to vice.

This dubious compliment is from his Imitations of Horace, addressed to King George II in 1737 (Horace's original was in praise of the Emperor Augustus). It was George and his Queen Caroline who had Kensington Gardens improved  in the 1720s and 30s first by Charles Bridgeman who created the Round Pond, Long Water and Serpentine, and then by William Kent who designed the Queen's Temple.

Sitting heron

When you start seeing more of a particular species it's hard to know whether numbers are really increasing or whether you're just noticing them more, or -- if you're feeding them -- that word is getting out among them and more are coming to be fed. This is happening with Coal Tits, the least numerous of the three kinds of tits in the park. Today there was a pair I'd not met before in a tree near the Serpentine Gallery.

This was in addition to the pair in the Flower Walk, which I missed today, and the pairs in the Rose Garden ...

... the Dell ...

... and at Mount Gate.

The male Robin here came out at once on the railings ...

... but the female was in a mood and had to be coaxed out of a bush with calling and pine nuts.

It's a hard life for a Pied Wagtail in midwinter, with very few flying insects to catch though there are occasionally some midges. The usual female on the Serpentine was running up and down the shore at the Lido restaurant looking for small larvae. She can keep herself fed only by constant hunting.

The Feral Pigeon destringing group was at work by the Dell restaurant. Pigeons get all kinds of things wrapped round their legs: thread from discarded and decaying clothes, fishing line, and even human hair. It can tighten, cutting off circulation to the foot, and be quite hard to remove. The preferred tool is Spencer scissors designed for removing surgical sutures, which have a little hook on the end of one blade. The job takes three people, one to attract pigeons by feeding, one to catch any that have strings, and one to remove the strings.

Yes, there is a sitting Grey Heron in one of the middle nests on the island. It's very hard to see in the high nest, but in this picture you can just get a glimpse of a grey back in the middle and the black top of a head on the left.

The heron at the northwest corner of the bridge kept a lookout from an oak tree.

The number of Common Gulls slowly builds up to about 50 in midwinter, most of them on the Round Pond, but they also like to congregate and preen on the plastic buoys around the Lido swimming area.

A Great Crested Grebe by the bridge gave the camera a quizzical glance ...

... before going back to fishing.

The Black Swan was following his old girlfriend. She was visibly annoyed at being stalked.

He also has to keep up his high status on the Serpentine. He cruised briskly past some squabbling Herring Gulls, wings raised in threat, and launched a random attack on a Mute Swan that had done nothing to offend him.

The single teenaager was with both parents by the Dell restaurant. It's had a very protected life so far.

The Egyptian Geese in the Italian Garden trotted round the kerb of a pool towards someone they hoped would feed them. They don't seem to have any contact with other Egyptians, apart from shouting at any pair hat happens to fly over.

Return of the Chaffinch

I hadn't seen the female Chaffinch in Kensington Gardens for months. She used to come out with her mate anywhere from the Flower Walk to the Round Pond and they would follow me asking for pine nuts. I fear that he's gone, but she was in the variegated holly tree between the bridge and the Vista. I put some pine nuts on the railings for her.

There was no shortage of Blue Tits in the Rose Garden ...

... and the usual pair of Coal Tits arrived.

The two in the Dell were in the corkscrew hazel. One looked out from the twisty twigs.

Both the Robins appeared at Mount Gate ...

... and the male in the dogwood bush was unexpectedly joined by a single Long-Tailed Tit that had strayed from the flock.

The female Pied Wagtail on the Serpentine is now quite used to being photographed.

A Herring Gull carried a leaf ...

... over to another for a bit of mild flirtation, which she responded to by sitting down. But they weren't really serious about each other, or they would have been moaning affectionately.

A Black-Headed Gull hauled up a rat-tailed maggot. These are the aquatic larvae of hoverflies, in the park probably the Common Drone Fly Eristalis tenax. The larva is much smaller than it looks, perhaps an inch long with several inches of siphon, but they get covered in algae during their incubation in the lake.

The dominant Black-Headed Gull was perched on the head of the Big Bird statue when he saw some people eating sandwiches on a bench.  He flew down and sidled up to them hopefully.

A Great Crested Grebe was fishing under the willow by the bridge.

As I got to the other side of the bridge a Cormorant dived under the pontoon in the arch. There was the sound of a flurry on the other side as they met, and the grebe fled under the pontoon and surfaced.

The teenage Mute Swans were at the Triangle, hoping someone would feed them ...

... while their father cruised off for some enjoyable bullying.

If two pairs of Egyptian Geese get close to each other there's always a loud fuss.

Jenna's Red Bug is having a grand time.

Hoping to see a Water Rail

Before I reached the Flower Walk on my way in, the Coal Tit was out on a twig looking expectant.

Then a mob of Great Tits and Blue Tits poured out of the bushes, but it managed to avoid a collision and got a pine nut.

It took longer for the small birds to appear in the Rose Garden, and at first the only arrival was a Blue Tit in the rose bushes in the circular hedge.

But then they realised it was feeding time and started collecting in a cercis bush, a place they like because its zigzag twigs provide many angles for comfortable perching.

It's the same with the chaotic corkscrew hazel in the Dell where the local pair of Coal Tits can often be seen. 

This Coal Tit at Mount Gate has become very demanding and took eight pine nuts one after the other, which it carried off to hide for later enjoyment.

The Robin here who comes out to be fed is, I think, the female of the pair. It was she who was so tatty in the summer after nesting, and she's still untidy ...

... compared to her sleek mate who was singing in the dogwood bush. We've had video of him before, but it's impossible to resist filming this lovely song.

The Robins at the southwest corner of the bridge ...

... and by the Buck Hill shelter are both immaculate as well as hungry.

The female Pied Wagtail was at Fisherman's Keep again ...

... leaving space for the Grey Wagtail to hunt by the Lido.

Pigeon Eater was dining at the Dell restaurant, eating in the water because the shore was crowded with people going to the Wasteland. The last day it's open is New Year's Day and then we shall have some welcome calm apart from the din of heavy lorries hauling away all the attractions.

Common Gulls like the buoys at the Lido because they are just light enough to stand here without the buoy rolling over. This gives them respite from the Herring Gulls and Lesser Black-Backs, which are too heavy and get tipped off.

The Grey Herons at the west end of their island were at their nest again, but their occupation is an on-off business at least so far.

A heron was fishing by the pontoons at the bridge.

A pair of Great Crested Grebes were at work on the other side. As far as I can tell there is just this pair on the Long Water and another two, not mates, on the Serpentine. More should gradually arrive later, but first we need to get through the January frosts.

The Black Swan was following a Mute Swan, but it wasn't 4GIQ who has a very small knob on her bill. This looks like his previous girlfriend, if you can call her that since neither she nor 4GIQ take much notice of his advances.

On a routine day there is at least some good news: a pair of Water Rails has been seen several times on the west side of the Long Water near the bridge. I will make a daily check and hope to see one. This place has an unsuccessful reed bed with large gaps in it, and the scrubby shoreline behind the netting is just the kind of place that Water Rails like.