A dim day

It was a dark grey day with a chilly east wind. There was so little light that any picture not taken in the open was quite bad. At least the sun is now beginning to crawl up the sky after its low point at the winter solstice. A very late red hot poker flower in the Rose Garden was doing its best to look bright but not really succeeding.

There were more Blue Tits here than Great Tits, which is unusual. Their numbers have been building up over the past few weeks. Perhaps word is getting around that someone will feed them.

The Coal Tits tend to stay at the top of the tall lime hedge on the south side and whizz down suddenly to your hand when you aren't looking.

The two in the Dell are easier to photograph, waiting patiently because they know they'll get their pine nuts in due course.

The reliable Robin at the southwest corner of the bridge was fluffed up to the maximum against the cold.

The Robins at Mount Gate, which are mates in the breeding season, were chasing each other around the flower bed. This dim picture was taken at 2.55 pm, when already the shadows were closing in.

The Pied Wagtail was at Fisherman's Keep, well to the east of her usual hunting ground.

This left the shore near the Lido vacant for the Grey Wagtail, which otherwise would have been chased off.

It preferred not to head into the chilly east wind, but got ruffled for facing the wrong way.

Near the Wasteland a paper container that had held churros with chocolate sauce was monopolised by one dominant Feral Pigeon, which shooed the other pigeons and a Black-Headed Gull away.

Jackdaws appeared all the way along the shore from the island to the Dell restaurant.

A Jay waited in a winged elm by the Italian Garden.

I looked up this peculiar tree. It's a native of the eastern United States, and was briefly planted in Britain as an ornamental species in the 19th century but remains quite rare here. It's said to be susceptible to Dutch elm disease which killed the English elms in the park, but it's thriving and spreading around the edge of the Long Water. The distinctive ribs on the bark of the twigs only appear after two years, so new shoots are smooth.

The dominant Black-Headed Gull on the landing stage was annoyed because a young Herring Gull was standing in his favourite place.

The Grey Herons in the nest at the west end of the island were together again. This new pair seem much more enthusiastic than the previous occupants.

There's a large group of nests close together in the middle of the island, which is odd because only one pair would be able to nest here without serious territorial conflict. It's not at all clear what's going on at the moment because the nests are too high to see into from the shore.

Just one Cormorant was left on the Serpentine, fishing under moored pedalos at the boat hire platform. There are still a few others on the Long Water.

A group of Mute Swans on the edge of the Serpentine abandoned their rivalry for a while and preened peacefully together.

A rival Black-Headed Gull

The dominant Black-Headed Gull on the landing stage usually has an easy time defending his territory, as the other gulls and even some larger birds are frightened of him. But today he was looking restless and was calling.

The reason soon became apparent, as another Black-Headed Gull was flying around and landed aggressively beside him. They strutted around side by side in a head-down threatening pose for a while until the intruder gave up and flew away.

The Black Swan was also in an aggressive mood, and was cruising around the killer Mute Swan's six teenagers by the Triangle. This is a risky thing to do, as if the killer spots it he will dash over in a fury, but the Black Swan enjoys living on the edge.

The damage caused by the swans to the flimsy plastic frame over the new reed bed has reached the stage where a Moorhen can get in and out of a gap in the netting. It will do no harm, but Coots can get in too and they will delight in  tearing up the plants.

I doubt there will be any attempt to repair it. That is not the way the park management works. When some large and expensive floating beds of water plants were installed by the Dell restaurant, they did nothing while swans smashed down the barriers and destroyed everything. The barriers could easily have been strengthened with a hundred pounds' worth of wooden battens strapped to the top edge with cable ties, but that never occurred to them.

There is usually a Grey Heron under the collapsed willow at the bridge, an excellent fishing spot as fish lurk in the shadows under the half-submerged branches. The willow remains alive in spite of its trunk being broken, so it isn't falling to bits like the other fallen trees in the Long Water.

The Long Water is home to Mallard, Gadwall, Shoveller, Tufted Duck, Common Pochard and Red-Breasted Pochard. All are common enough, but the Common Pochard is in serious decline nationally so it's cheering to see that they are increasing here, with a winter population now over 80.

The female Pied Wagtail was dashing up and down the edge of the lake by the Lido restaurant terrace. Occasionally she finds a tiny larva, not much to sustain her, so that in winter she has to hunt coninuously. Sometimes there are midges, even in the depth of winter, which provide a bit more nutrition.

For many years there has been a Robin in an olive tree near the west gate of the Lido swimming area. It can't possibly be the same one, so there must be a family dynasty here. It's very defensive about its tree, scolding and chasing other birds and singing.

A Robin perched on a rubbish sack in the Dell. This isn't one I know, but it came down to pick up pine nuts thrown on the ground.

The Robin near the Henry Moore sculpture is a regular customer and now perches confidently on my hand.

The pair of Magpies at the Lido are always waiting in a tree.

Another besdie the Long Water perched in a hazel bush laden with catkins.

One of the Jays preferred a winged elm. These small trees which grow all down the east side of the Long Water are liked by many birds, as the long unobstructed branches provide an easy landing and takeoff and a good view.

There was a Wren on another.

The usual Blue Tits ...

... and Coal Tits turned up in the Rose Garden ...

... and so did the Coal Tit pair in the Dell, today in the big yew tree which provides shelter and cover for many small birds.

This brown Feral Pigeon shows what happens when the basic Rock Dove pattern is disrupted by a lack of black eumelanin pigment. The ginger phaeomelanin is present in normal quantities. These color mutations only affect feathers: as you can see, its bill and the pupils of its eyes are as dark as normal -- as indeed they are in white pigeons where all the feather pigment has failed. Albino birds with no colour anywhere do exist, but they are rare and don't live long as the lack of black in their eyes gives them poor vision.

National Robin Day

It's National Robin Day. I had no idea that there was such a thing, but luckily I was told about it. It seems quite sensible to have it at the winter solstice, because the Robin is the principal winter singer in Britain. This is one of the pair at Mount Gate, having to raise its voice to be heard above the noise of the traffic on the West Carriage Drive. Near the end you can just hear it being answered by its mate.

More Robins: in the Flower Walk ...

... at the southwest corner of the bridge ...

... and in the hawthorn in the Rose Garden.

The male Chaffinch in the Rose Garden arrived to be fed ...

... and this rose bush always fills up with various tits waiting for their daily pine nuts.

Both the Coal Tits in the Dell were waiting in the corkscrew hazel bush ...

...taking no notice of a Magpie looking down on them from a high branch.

A flock of Long-Tailed Tits moved round the edge of the Long Water.

A Jackdaw perched in the top of a hawthorn near Temple Gate, the only one I saw all day.

The female Pied Wagtail was hunting near the Lido as usual. Seconds after I took this picture her mate flew over and the two raced off together across the lake twittering at each other.

Pigeon Eater was with his mate on the roof of the Dell restaurant, calling loudly.

A pair of Grey Herons stood together in the nest at the west end of the Serpentine island. This nest has never succeeeded so far, but these are a different pair from the ones that had it last year and the year before, so there's no reason why they shouldn't make it this time.

The Mute Swan family from the Long Water like to stand on the edge at the Triangle, and they aren't going to let the installation of the new reed beds keep them away. The flimsy frame of PVC plumbing pipe which is supposed to protect the growing plants is already broken in several places, probably from having swans jump on to it. In the background you can see an Egyptian Goose that has occupied one of the new floating baskets ...

... and here is a closer look. If a swan requisitions the basket in the spring it will be evicted. But Egyptians could nest here if left in peace: they don't always use tree holes.

The little stream in the Dell, only 50 yards long, is the only part remaining above ground of the Westbourne river, and even this is a channel dug some way from its original course. Not much water goes through it nowadays, so the flow is enhanced by a large electric pump which powers a waterfall at the top end. It's full of carp, some of them quite large, whose ancestors will have been washed into it from the Serpentine.

Two Song Thrushes

A sunny day started the Song Thrush at the Diana memorial fountain singing in a treetop, and now there was another nearby answering it, though this was invisible in the bushes.

There was a male Blackbird at the other end of the bridge, though he was silent. Blackbirds are much less likely to sing out of season even on sunny days.

The park was crowded and it took some time for the small birds to turn up in the Rose Garden, but eventually the usual Robin ...

... some Blue Tits ...

... and one of the Coal Tit pair arrived for their daily pine nuts.

The Robin at the southwest corner of the bridge is always watching and now comes out immediately and chattters if it thinks I haven't noticed it.

The Coal Tit here is still timid, but it should soon gain courage from the sight of the other birds feeding.

Long-Tailed Tits moved through the trees at Peter Pan.

A Magpie shone in the sunlight at the foot of Buck Hill.

Another finished a bowl of soup on a table at the Lido restaurant.

The female Pied Wagtail at the Lido is now a daily sight.

Ahmet Amerikali was in Battersea Park where he photographed a Firecrest looking particularly fiery ...

... outshining a nearby Goldcrest.

A slice of bread was mysteriously moving across the little stream in the Dell. Closer inspection showed that it was being nibbled by the large carp in the stream. A Moorhen barged in and took over the slice.

Another Moorhen amused itself by climbing in the reeds beside the Long Water.

A gaggle of Greylag Geese crossed the busy Serpentine Road and the horse ride to graze.

The six teenage Mute Swans were cruisng around the Serpentine as if the owned it -- which, as long as their ferocious father continues to guard them, they do.