A Little Owl surprise

It rained pitilessly in the morning. It doesn't do any harm to Mute Swans, but I'm sure they were relieved when it stopped.

Cormorants do get wet, and the little group at Peter Pan had to abandon drying their wings.

The Grey Heron in the nest at the east end of the Serpentine island was looking soggy and dejected.

By the time I got round the lake to the Lido the rain had stopped and there was even an occasional flash of sunlight. The heron was in its usual place on the handrail.

The Black Swan had abandoned his unsuccessful advances to the Mute Swan and was alone again. Naturally he came over for some sunflower hearts.

When he arrived in the park a couple of years ago he was a teenager, clearly brought up in the wild and quite ignorant of human behaviour. But his status as the only Black Swan in the park led a lot of people to feed him, and he is now a practised beggar.

The Egyptian Geese with their single offspring have also received at lot of attention, and trot up expectantly to anyone they see. I was glad to note that the young one's lameness is improving daily, and if you didn't know about its injury you might not notice the remaining slight limp.

The pair at the Italian Garden were on Buck Hill and came down hopefully. I don't feed Egyptians, though plenty of other people do.

Pigeon Eater was wandering around looking for a chance. The light caught his distinctive eye with spots on the yellow iris, by which he can be infallibly recognised.

A close-up view.

The dominant Black-Headed Gull at the landing stage admired the reflection of his new dark head.

I would never have thought to look for the Little Owl in Hyde Park on such a cheerless day, but Triss, a member of the bird rescue group, was passing and noticed it in a tall horse chestnut, and he got this picture. This is almost certainly one of the two hatched earlier this year and, as you can see from the bushy eyebrows, is male.

A Carrion Crow in the Dell flipped over wet leaves, looking for anything edible underneath.

Two Jays followed me along the edge of the Long Water.

The Robin at the southwest corner of the bridge was expecting service ...

... and so was the one at Mount Gate.

It was looking aggrieved because it had to wait while I tried to coax a Coal Tit down from the cockspur thorn tree. It didn't come -- only one of the pair here  will -- but took a pine nut from the ground along with the Robin.

Both the Coal Tits in the Dell showed up in the corkscrew hazel bush, waiting to take pine nuts from the railings.

Going home I passed the Albert Memorial, glowing in the soft evening light.

How pigeons drink

A young Wood Pigeon finished the last of the berries in a holly tree, and an adult drank at the top of the Dell waterfall. Pigeons are, I think, the only birds that can drink just by putting their beak in the water. Other birds need to take a beakful and throw their head back to swallow it. Pigeons seem to be able to roll their tongue against their beak to make a sort of drinking straw to suck up water.

Coal Tits turned out in the hawthorn in the Rose Garden ...

... and in the corkscrew hazel in the Dell ...

... accompanied by several Blue Tits.

The other corkscrew hazel in the Flower Walk produced a Robin ...

... and the faithful one at Mount Gate emerged from a bush when called.

A Jay waited near the Italian Garden ...

... and the pair of Magpies at the Lido are now regular customers.

Carrion Crows often wait in the top of the variegated holly on the path below the Queen's Temple to swoop down when you are trying to feed a Magpie or a Jay and steal their food. It's hard to outwit these clever birds which know exactly what you're thinking.

The Lido restaurant terrace is bordered by a line of planters which shield the edge of the water from disturbance, and also attract insects, so it's a favourite place for Wagtails to hunt.

The crowds around the Wasteland don't bother Pigeon Eater in the least. He just trots between the people, looking for a pigeon that isn't paying attention.

At opposite ends of the lake, the Czech Black-Headed Gull ...

... and the one at the landing stage were in the middle of clearing rivals out of their territories.

The Grey Heron at the Triangle has found that the baskets over the new reed beds make a good fishing station, with fish lurking under the floating edge of the baskets.

Another on the Long Water was sticking to the traditional place on the Mute Swans' nesting island, which is deserted by the swans until they start breeding again next spring.

The fallen Lombardy poplar at Peter Pan is a good place for a Canada Goose to doze undisturbed by dogs and people.

Egyptian Geese walked from the edge of the Serpentine across the road to drink from a puddle in the horse ride. All birds prefer rainwater to the borehole water in the lake. The two adults are accompanied by the only young one on the lake. It still has a very slight limp from an injury a few weeks ago, but I'm sure it will recover completely.

Last night's rain has refilled the Huntress fountain in the Rose Garden with clean water, and the local Egyptians were in their usual place on the edge.

Another Mediterranean Gull seen, but not by me

It was a much milder day than of late, though very dark and there were few photo opportunities.

A Robin sang very quietly to itself in a rose bush, barely audible above the distant roar of the Wasteland.

The Robin in the next bush came out for some pine nuts. The two were taking a break from their usual rivalry -- even a Robin can't yell defiance non-stop.

A Blue Tit perched on another twig.

The Robin at the southwest corner of the bridge was waiting by the railings.

Patricia photographed it as it grabbed a pine nut. It always hovers for a moment without landing, but it will probably adopt the usual Robin behaviour of perching and taking several.

A Coal Tit looked down from the top of the bush. It hasn't yet dared to come down, but sooner or later it should follow the example of the other birds.

A flock of Long-Tailed Tits passed down the east side of the Long Water. This one is on a winged elm, a small tree that grows in profusion along the shore, probably all the same individual spread by root suckers.

Two hours later a flock, maybe the same one, was going up the other side. They collected in a tree on the edge of the Vista before crossing the gap together.

A Magpie perched among the spiky fruits of the sweetgum tree by the Diana fountain landing stage.

The dominant Black-Headed Gull was in his usual place below.

A Mediterranean Gull was seen flying from the Serpentine to the Long Water this morning, apparently not the first-year bird that Bill Haines saw a few days ago. I searched the lakes and the Round Pond, but couldn't find it.

The Grey Heron at the Lido was taking a rest from fishing at the ramp, and stood on the handrail.

There was a dense mob of Coots to the west of the island. It makes you understand why the collective noun for Coots is 'a raft'.

A two-on-two fight broke out at the Vista.

The Black Swan has been following a female Mute Swan around the Serpentine. She is 4GIQ, and earlier this year she nested unsuccessfully in the reeds by the Diana landing stage, laying eggs that didn't hatch.

They came ashore and he started picking up dead leaves and dropping them in a pile. For both species of swan this is a symbol of building a nest, and he was trying to impress her -- she's behind him on the left. She took absolutely no notice.

A pair of Gadwalls dabbled in fallen leaves in the shallow water at the edge of the Serpentine.

There are two of these dark Mallard drakes, presumably brothers. This one was at the landing stage. The other has been quite badly injured and is being looked after by Jenna. It can't go to the Swan Sanctuary yet because they are imposing a quarantine for bird flu, but we all hope it will survive and can then be moved there.

By the time I had finished the unsuccessful search for the gull the sun had set and it was almost dark when I passed Mount Gate, but the faithful Robin emerged when called.

Falling down

A Wood Pigeon reached desperately for holly berries on the end of a thin twig, and of course fell off.

The Robin at Mount Gate is the only bird that needs to be called to show itself, but it's settled in this arrangement now.

The familiar Robin in the Rose Garden was in the usual hawthorn tree, occasionally trying to sing against the racket of the Wasteland, police sirens, motorbikes and a helicopter. The Rose Garden, only yards from Hyde Park Corner, is a noisy place.

There were a lot of Blue Tits here. They are more mobile than Great Tits and often go around in flocks. All were accustomed to being hand fed, so I was kept busy. One waited on the ferocious spiny twig of a rugosa rose.

one of the Coal Tits was waiting in the corkscrew hazel in the Dell.

A Blackbird wasn't doing much in a tree near the Ranger's Lodge, but they are getting so rare in the park that seeing one at all is a small event

Ahmet Amerikali was in Battersea Park, where he scored a hat trick of a Cetti's Warbler ...

... a Firecrest ...

... and a Goldcrest all within a few feet of each other.

This Black-Headed Gull, Yellow 2F12, has been visiting the park since 2023. I reported it at the time and found that it had been ringed on the seafront at Westcliff in Essex in February, and had later been seen in Regent's Park.

The dominant gull at the landing stage has noticeably more dark feathers on its head than the last time I photographed it only two days ago.

A Grey Heron was back in the top nest on the island ...

... and another was preening in the east nest. Both these nests were successful last season. If the follow the same schedule as they did last year we should see things beginning to happen in about three weeks.

The small willow on the edge of the lake by the Triangle is much used by a heron as a vantage point ...

... and there was another keeping a lookout on the handrail of the Lido jetty. They aren't really watching for prey here, they just like to keep an eye on what's going on.

The Black Swan spotted me from a distance and came straight over for his daily treat of sunflower hearts.

Two pairs of Egyptian Geese shouted and chased each other in an oak tree by the leaf yard.

A pair of Egyptians courted, if this rough approach can be called that, and mated on the Serpentine. It's no fun at all for the female.