Spinning crows

It was still quite windy, and Carrion Crows at the Lido restaurant were enjoying a spin on the weathervane.

But it was also warm, and the young Little Owl at the Round Pond came out in the small lime tree in spite of the leaves blowing about.

The olive tree at the west end of the Lido has always been a favourite singing post for a Robin. It must be a series of Robins succeeding each other, as this has been going on for years.

There was a Grey Wagtail here hunting up the edge.

The male Chaffinch in the Flower Walk turned up to be fed. He is getting very bold, but I doubt he'll ever come to my hand. This only happens very occasionally with Chaffinches.

A pair of Magpies always chase me from the bridge to the Vista demanding peanuts.

There are more migrant Blackbirds. Thanks to Mark Williams for this picture.

The male Peregrine was on the tower having a preen.

A little group of Black-Headed Gulls at the Lido washed together. Like preening (or yawning in humans) washing is infectious.

A Grey Heron waited patiently on the small waterfall in the Dell. Any fish that come too near the edge (and are not eaten by the heron) get washed over and change their habitat permanently, as carp are not athletic enough to swim up the fall. But they don't leave through the culvert at the bottom end of the stream, as the flow is very slow, so they grow to a large size in the lower section.

There are still plenty of medium-sized carp by the lake outflow, and this Great Crested Grebe was catching one every minute.

A Cormorant at Peter Pan picked up a twig ...

... and jumped up on a post and waved it at the others. Maybe this is some kind of out-of-season nesting display.

Egyptian Geese are usually in pairs aggressive to outsiders, and it was a surprise to see these three at the east end of the Serpentine displaying mildly together. Could it be a ménage à trois? These things happen quite often with Mallards, for example.

A Gadwall drake, one of a pair in the Italian Garden.

Despite the unseasonal warmth, the number of insects in the Rose Garden is now falling noticeably. But there are still quite a few Buff-Tailed Bumblebees in the lavender, which is their favourite flower at this time.

Kestrel over Buck Hill

The local female Kestrel hovered over Buck Hill. I think she's always in the park, but we don't see her often as she hunts over a wide area.

It was too windy for the Little Owls, so no picture today.

A Mistle Thrush ate yew berries in a tree near Peter Pan. I haven't seen a Mistle Thrush in this area recently, so it's probably a winter migrant.

There was a Blackbird in the same tree, almost certainly a migrant as many of these are immature males still with dark bills and no yellow eye ring.

Just along the path, a Magpie nattered angrily at a Carrion Crow but was still shooed out of the tree.

A Jackdaw had won a bit of cake at the Dell restaurant and was eating it on the edge of the lake.

As they spread over the park and gain confidence, it seems that they are starting to raid tables. The very numerous Jackdaws in Richmond Park do this as a matter of course.

A Starling on an umbrella at the Lido restaurant shone in the sunlight.

Mark Williams took this fine picture of feeding Starlings at the Round Pond.

A Chaffinch stared out from a bush in the Flower Walk. It took a pine nut from the ground.

A Robin was ticking at something behind the leaf yard.

A Cormorant under the marble fountain by the Italian Garden was harried by Black-Headed Gulls eager to try to grab any fish it caught. It left.

Two female ducks for a change: a Gadwall in the Italian Garden ...

... and a Shoveller at the Vista.

There was a fair number of these feeding together on the Long Water.

The lavender in the Rose Garden is still attracting plenty of insects, including several Common Carder bees ...

... and a hoverfly which I think is Syrphus ribesii.

Green Woodpecker

A Green Woodpecker laughed sardonically on Buck Hill and flew to a dead tree.

Soon after the Jackdaws returned to the park in 2014 they started nesting in this oak near the leaf yard, and it is now a place where several families meet and play.

Jays are not much seen at the moment as they are busy gathering and burying thousands of nuts for the winter, but one turned up in the Flower Walk expecting a peanut.

The tatty Blue Tit in the Flower Walk is a familiar sight, but there is also a smart one and it will sometimes, though not always, come to my hand.

Long-Tailed Tits jumped around in a pine tree in the Dell.

Feral Pigeons showed no respect for the goddess Diana on her fountain in the Rose Garden.

Morning sunshine brought out the young Little Owl at the Round Pond. He looks so regal in his pictures that you forget how small he is.

The female Peregrine was on the tower.

The line of plastic buoys marking off the swimming area at the Lido is a popular gathering place for Black-Headed Gulls.

One of the young Grey Herons took over the remains of the Coot nest at the bridge as a fishing platform. The nest is on the wire baskets which act as a fish hatchery, and there are lots of perch here attracting various fishing birds.

Four more Great Crested Grebes have arrived on the Serpentine.

The crowding of Cormorants on the Long Water caused one to perch on the posts at the Vista, uncomfortably close to the shore and constantly assailed by dogs jumping into the water.

On the east side of the Vista Shovellers gathered at the end of the gravel bank.

A little line of Gadwalls passed by.

The fatsia bush by the bridge is in flower and has attracted many Common Wasps, which get covered in pollen.

Wasps also abound on ivy, which flowers at about the same time. There is a hybrid of the two plants, Fatshedera, created by fertilising fatsia with ivy pollen. It is said to have been bred artificially in 1912, but probably it has occurred by accident many times thanks to wasps passing from one to the other. The hybrid is almost always sterile, so it would not have spread.

Buff-Tailed Bumblebees browsed on the arbutus tree in the Rose Garden ...

... which is bearing flowers and fruit at the same time.

Two Little Owls

The male Little Owl at the Speke obelisk came out in the mild sunshine.

Usually he's very shy and rushes into his hole when observed but today, with three people pointing cameras at him, he was just a bit restless.

He was heard calling earlier this morning, an encouraging sign that he may still have a mate somewhere. We were worried that he'd lost her.

The young male Little Owl near the Round Pond was in his favourite small lime tree. It was rather windy so he had come down lower than usual to avoid the flailing leaves.

A Robin in the Flower Walk ...

... and the usual female Coal Tit were expecting to be fed.

A Cormorant at Peter Pan shone in the sunlight.

Another was fishing under the parapet of the Italian Garden and caught a perch, along with some algae that it had to remove before swallowing the fish.

A Herring Gull stamped its foot in the dead leaves at the edge of the lake. This seems to be a way of bringing out little edible water creatures -- an aquatic version of the worm dance they do on lawns.

One of of regular visitors from Poland, the Black-Headed Gull T4UN, was in his usual place on the north shore of the Serpentine.

The fountains in the Italian Garden have gone wrong yet again. I'm sure they never did when they were worked by a great clanking Victorian steam engine belching filthy smoke and the water arrived in massive cast iron pipes, but modern machinery is often too clever for its own good. The inert spray heads provided perches for a Lesser Black-Backed Gull ...

... Mallards and a Coot ...

... and a Moorhen.

Bill Haines has clearly had a visit with his ringing tools and has caught one of the young Moorhens at the Vista.

It's interesting, and even important, to keep track of birds, and it was fascinating to hear of the Coot that flew from here to St Petersburg. But I can't help feeling sorry for a bird that has to wear an ankle tag for the rest of its life.

The male Mute Swan from the Italian Garden had come down on to the lake and was standing defiantly on the dominant swans' nesting island. If they come back and see him here, there will be big trouble.

A couple of Gadwall drakes had flown into the fountain pools.

The lavender in the Rose Garden is still full of Honeybees and Buff-Tailed Bumblebees.