A narrow escape

It was a day of hail, thunder and wind with sunny intervals. A pair of Gadwalls on the Serpentine endured a hailstorm.

A Carrion Crow drank from a puddle.

The Egyptian Geese at the Triangle managed to prevent one of their twelve goslings from being carried off by a crow, bit it was a near escape.

The Canada goslings were being closely guarded. Even in a gaggle of geese with no goslings there's always one keeping a lookout for danger.

The Blue Tits' nest in the Caucasian Elm in the Rose Garden was constantly visited by parents, and one of the chicks came into view.

A Blue Tit collected fluff for a nest lining from a pussy willow in the Diana fountain reed bed.

The small birds were hungry again on a raw day. A Blue Tit appealed from the lawn in the Rose Garden ...

... and a Great Tit stared from the hawthorn tree above it.

The Coal Tits in the Dell were also wanting pine nuts.

A female Pied Wagtail hunted on the edge of the Serpentine at the Lido ...

... and the young one was on a buoy, but they were taking no notice of each other and it's clear that the young bird is independent now.

A female Blackbird foraged in the scrubby patch east of the Lido.

A Grey Heron perched on a bench at the Triangle ...

... and was scolded by an angry Wren in the bushes behind.

I couldn't find the Mandarin ducklings on the Long Water, but three drakes were visible. Two came over to the Vista beside the Gadwall x Mallard hybrid drake.

On the far side of the Vista the Mute Swans 4HDW and 4DTT were back at their nest on the gravel strip, but they still haven't settled down there.

However, it does look as if 4FUF is sitting in earnest in the reeds east of the Vista.

Young Long-Tailed Tits and Mandarin ducklings

The Long-Tailed Tits nesting at the southeast corner of the leaf yard have brought out their young, and the bushes were a busy scene as they all dashed about.

Blue Tits are nesting in a cleft in the trunk of the huge Caucasian Elm in the Rose Garden.

A Coal Tit in the Dell enjoyed a pine nut, carefully eating it in little bits.

A Song Thrush near Peter Pan was carrying a large chunk of nesting material. Heaven knows how they manage to fly and land when they can't see out the front.

One of the two young Grey Wagtails was being fed by a parent on the edge of the Lido restaurant terrace.

The male Robin at Mount Gate came out from under a bush.

A male Chaffinch demanded a pine nut near the Serpentine Gallery.

A Carrion Crow had a good try at looking sweet in hawthorn blossom.

Ahmet Amerikali got a fine close-up shot of a Reed Warbler in the reeds by the Diana fountain.

A young Grey Heron stared into the Dell stream as a carp surfaced.

The heron sitting at the east end of the island looked up from the nest.

The Great Crested Grebes' nest below remains improbably intact.

The four Coot chicks in the lake under the Italian Garden are quite large now and mostly feeding themselves, though a parent will occasionally offer one a strand of algae.

The Mandarin pair on the Long Water have brought out three ducklings, though there was only a distant view of them across the Vista.

A pair of Egyptian Geese by the boathouses have produced twelve goslings.

The male Mute Swan 4FYY guarded the nest in the reeds east of the Lido as the female 4FUF came out to feed.

A Small White butterfly perched on a bramble leaf near the Italian Garden.

A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee browsed on Mexican Orange Blossom at the bridge.

Two young Grey Wagtails

The Grey Wagtails nesting at the Triangle have two young, which they brought over to the other side of the lake while they caught insects for them. Here are the two with their father on the empty swan nesting basket near the Lido restaurant terrace.

They were being fed at the landing stage by the Diana fountain and on the nearby shore.

The Pied Wagtails were also collecting insects for their young at Fisherman's Keep. The female had a good haul of midges ...

... but the male had only just flown in and didn't have any yet. They aren't hunting for the young Pied Wagtail we've seen, as this is older and already independent, so there are two broods on the Serpentine.

Swifts screamed as they caught midges above Knightsbridge. The two buildings are the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and the Park Tower Hotel.

I hadn't seen the Coal Tit pair in the Dell for a while, though loud squeaks from the yew tree at the southeast corner showed that they were both there. Today one noticed me and came down for some pine nuts.

This tatty Blue Tit is the one in the Rose Garden that goes mad with impatience when I'm trying to photograph it, flying about and landing on the camera.

A Great Tit hung from a cabbage palm leaf above an allium flower.

It's time to have another picture of the familiar male Robin at Mount Gate.

One of the three young Grey Herons in the third nest on the island had climbed to the top of the tree.

A heron used a duckboard in the Italian Garden fountains as a fishing station.

A pair of Great Crested Grebes rested near the Triangle.

A pair of Coots insist on making a nest in an exposed place on the edge of the Serpentine. A crack in the concrete makes a place to anchor the nest tenuously but it keeps getting washed away, after which the stubborn birds rebuild it. Nothing will come of this vain effort.

A pair of Egyptian Geese near the island had eight young only a few days old.

The Canadas with their three goslings rested on the grass east of the Lido.

The Gadwall x Mallard hybrid drake cruised past the Vista. Slightly raised wings show that he has blue secondaries like a Mallard, not white like a Gadwall.

A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee browsed on catmint by the Diana fountain.

Agitated Wren

A Wren in the Triangle shrubbery was in a frenzy of scolding. Probably there was a Magpie in the top of the tree.

On a chilly day with a biting east wind the small birds were hungrier. A female Great Tit in hawthorn blossom in the Rose Garden did her juvenile 'feed me' act, vibrating her wings and cheeping pitifully. This is what she does to encourage her mate to feed her when she's nesting, but this time it was directed at me.

In fact there was plenty to be had. A Blue Tit appeared in the big holm oak carrying two caterpillars. This was a single hasty shot with no time to move around for a better angle.

A Robin looked up expectantly from under a rose bush.

On the lawn outside the Rose Garden, a Stock Dove wandered through buttercups.

The Song Thrush could be heard at the back of the Lido.

There were a fair number of Swifts over the Serpentine.

A Reed Warbler appeared for a moment in the Diana fountain reed bed.

A male Chaffinch called for service in a lime tree near the Serpentine Gallery.

A Jay waited for a peanut near the Italian Garden.

The young Pied Wagtail was using the Lido jetty as a base for hunting midges. It's certainly able to look after itself.

The female Grey Wagtail trotted along the edge of the Lido restaurant terrace.

A Grey Heron admired its reflection in the Dell stream.

The usual heron was on the terrace railings hoping to stare the people at the tables into throwing it a titbit.

A couple of Herring Gulls chased it away, just for fun.

The single tatty Black-Headed Gull flew across the Serpentine and landed in its usual place at Fisherman's Keep. It may look a mess but it can fly perfectly well and is holding its own.

An Egyptian Goose by the Serpentine sheltered her new goslings from the wind.

The six teenagers were also feeling the chill, and went into a huddle like they did when they were little.