Green Woodpecker

A Green Woodpecker climbed a tree by the Queen's Temple. Several can be heard laughing around Kensington Gardens at the moment.

After a chilly start, afternoon sunshine warmed the day and the Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery came out on a branch.

A male Blackcap was singing in a hawthorn between Peter Pan and the leaf yard ...

... and on the other side of the path several Jackdaws came out to be fed.

A Song Thrush singing in a treetop by the leaf yard was answered by a Chiffchaff.

A Wren at the northwest corner of the bridge had caught a midge.

Another appeared at the other side of the bridge on an acanthus in the Triangle shrubbery ...

... where the male Chaffinch from Kensington Gardens had followed me again.

All three Robins at Mount Gate were waiting to be fed. This is the single one, which is quite well tolerated by the pair when they all come out in the flower bed.

The male Pied Wagtail was hunting along the edge at Fisherman's Keep, twittering loudly. I haven't seen his mate for a couple of days.

Every year a pair of Coots build a nest under the Dell restaurant balcony. The water is about three feet deep here, but a substantial pile of waterlogged branches brough in by the Coots in earlier years lasts through the winter and provides a base for the new nest.

The odd trio of a Gadwall drake mated with a female Mallard, and a spare Mallard drake, were on the edge of the Serpentine near the Triangle. Ducks often appear in trios with a spare male, but it's unusual to have one of two species.

The Egyptian Geese with six fast growing goslings enjoyed a rest in the sunshine, at peace until the next loose dog coame along and tried to chase them.

A Mute Swan at the Vista tried one of the clumps of sprouted wheat thrown into the water after the Zoroastrian Nowruz, the New Year celebration at the spring solstice. The swan took one bit and left it. None of the birds seem to like these attractive-looking green shoots: even Coots won't eat them.

There were plenty of insects in the herbaceous border in the Rose Garden, but nothing unusual. A Yellow-Legged Mining Bee explored a clump of polyanthus ...

a male Hairy-Footed Flower Bee fed on a pansy ...

... a female preferred a pink hyacinth ...

... and a Eupeodes luniger hoverfly, which has no satisfactory common name, browsed on a wallflower.

RIP Boss Swan

Sad news: the boss Mute Swan from the Long Water was found dead on the gravel strip this morning, from unknown causes. He was a very good swan from a swan's point of view, a powerful alpha male, whatever humans thought of his violent behaviour.

You might have expected that his mate would be drooping and inconsolable. But in fact she seemed remarkably unconcerned, seen here on the left of the picture preening with a group on the Serpentine shore by the Triangle, and she accepted a snack and gobbled it up enthusiastically. She hadn't been with him for very long, only a few months, and perhaps it takes longer than that for a pair to bond strongly.

The Long Water is now crowded with swans. This is a view up the Vista towards Kensington Palace.

A pair were already making a nest in the spot under the Italian Garden originally chosen by the boss.

The Canada gander was patrolling the water in front of the island where his mate is sitting on her eggs. I heard that some swans had tried to land and he had repelled them.

Better news: the single young Egyptian Goose to be brought up on the Serpentine last year, who was limping with a badly swollen foot, is now walking normally and the swelling is much reduced.

The male Pied Wagtail who was very lame from an avian pox blister on his foot is also much better now, running without a limp as the blister subsides.

The six eldest Egyptian goslings from this year are now quite large and beginning to get proper feathers. One of them strayed, but was called by his mother and hurried back.

The pair in the Rose Garden seemed delighted that the Huntress fountain is working again, but the goddess looked peeved at having an insolent Feral Pigeon perched on her bow hand.

A Great Crested Grebe on the Serpentine darted around catching midges flying near the surface of the water.

A pair of Coots at the bridge struggled to fit some long and irregular twigs into their nest, but Coots are good at this and they managed.

The two young Grey Herons in the top nest were playing again, but they had both just been for a short flight round the island, landing as neatly as adults. They are by no means independent yet and will remain in the nest to be fed for some time.

The Cetti's Warbler at the Vista appeared in willow catkins on the south side.

A pair of Long-Tailed Tits jumped around in the next tree.

A Coal Tit I haven't seen before came out in the top of a big yew tree at the northwest corner of the bridge.

In the Rose Garden, a Blue Tit waited in a cabbage palm.

The single Robin at Mount Gate was singing in cherry blossom on the other side of the path, but soon flew over to take several pine nuts.

A Jay looked expectant in a cherry near the Italian Garden.

A female Hairy-Footed Flower Bee browsed in a red deadnettle across the road from the Serpentine Gallery. They have orange hairs on their legs, but here the garish colour seems to come from pollen, as there is also a dusting on her face.

Disorderly swans

The Coal Tits in the Dell called from a tree before I had got to the place where I usually feed them. They are enormously fond of pine nuts, and for preference live and nest in the stone pines that produce them. I don't think the park has any of these trees, which are a prominent feature of the northern Italian landscape.

A Blue Tit ate a pine nut on a hawthorn twig in the Rose Garden.

The cercis bush where they usually collect had been taken by Rose-Ringed Parakeets, scaring them away.

A Wren appeared on a twig at the southwest corner of the bridge.

The third Robin at Mount Gate was waiting on the railings.

A male Great Spotted Woodpecker climbed around a tree near the Italian Garden. A female has been seen here too, so there is a pair.

A Wood Pigeon fed on tender young leaves in a red-leafed cherry tree by the bridge.

Carrion Crows enjoyed a bath in a large muddy puddle near the Speke obelisk.

One of the young Grey Herons in the second nest on the island had climed out on to a branch, where it stood looking as gormless as only a young heron can.

The boss Mute Swan and his mate had left their territory on the Long Water to beat up the swans on the other side of the bridge, leaving the way open for eleven swans to invade.

They were jostling and chasing each other by the reed bed. The boss will have to drive them out when he returns, but Usually he can scare them away without a fight.

The Canada gander was guarding his mate on the nesting island in case any of them should try to come ashore. Aided by fury, he is more than a match for a junior swan.

The boss swan's unoccupied nest site in the reeds had a Moorhen sprawling in it,

So did the swans' nest at the Serpentine outflow which was also temporarily deserted.

At the nest site in the reeds east of the Lido, the male 4FYY saw off a rival ...

... and returned trumphantly to his mate 4FUF.

A Dark-Edged Bee Fly perched on a dry stem by the Ranger's Cottage. Their wings can't fold up, so this is their resting position.

Nesting news

A Blue Tit called from a flowering cercis bush in the Rose Garden.

Another at Mount Gate was lurking in the pink-flowered currant bush ...

... along with the single Robin, the only one of the three that will come to my hand.

Across the path a pair of Long-Tailed Tits jumped around in a Japanese maple.

A Chiffchaff sang in an alder near the Italian Garden. A pair are nesting in the brambles below.

Ahmet Amerikali got a fine picture of the Cetti's Warbler at the Vista ...

... and a male Blackbird carrying larvae. It's good to see that they are already nesting.

A female Magpie on the lawn outside begged her mate to bring her food. He was reluctant to respond, but he won't get anywhere till he does, as she is testing him to ensure that he will feed her when she is on the nest.

The two young Grey Herons in the top nest playfully grabbed each other's bills. Done to a parent, that gesture would be a demand to be fed, but here they were just being silly with each other.

The three younger Grey Herons on the island are growing up. They can probably fly by now, though I haven't seen one any farther out of the nest than it could climb. They will still be fed by their parents for several weeks.

The solitary first-year Black-Headed Gull was still at Fisherman's Keep. It's a bit tatty but seems healthy and its wings are in good order, so it's odd that it didn't fly away when the others left for their breeding grounds.

Just offshore, a pair of Great Crested Grebes dozed as they were bounced by the choppy waves raised by a stiff breeze.

The Mute Swans nesting in the reeds near the outflow are 4DVZ and 4FYF. I could only read one of the rings yesterday.

The standoff on the Long Water is still holding. The boss was on his nest site in the reeds under the Italian Garden ...

... and his mate was resting in the water near the nesting island ...

... but neither of them was bothering the Canada Goose sitting on her eggs.

I simply don't understand why the boss hasn't claimed the nesting island he used successfully last year with his late mate.

Two swans on the Serpentine gained altitude to fly over the bridge on their way to the Round Pond.

The six eldest Egyptian goslings on the Serpentine have been spoilt by visitors feeding them. If you stand still they come towards you expectantly. I don't feed them. It's much better that they should get their natural diet of grass and larvae, and bad diet may be a factor in them getting the 'angel wing' deformity caused by weak bones, though this is certainly also hereditary.