A feast of aphids

A young Blackcap near the bridge was feasting on a heavy infestation of aphids on a burdock stem.

First sight of a young Robin from the nest by the Henry Moore sculpture. It too is old enough to catch its own insects, and had a midge.

A parent watched proudly from a twig.

It was a wet day, and a Jay in a tree by the Serpentine Gallery was looking very soggy ...

... but the familiar Chaffinch nearby was unaffected. It's small enough to shelter under a leaf.

A Swallow skimmed low over the Round Pond, with a Mute Swan out of focus in the background. There were also Swifts and House Martins.

A Pied Wagtail picked up a larva on the gravel strip.

A Grey Wagtail hunted along the edge of the Serpentine.

One of the Reed Warblers under the Italian Garden appeared for a moment before it dashed up the lake. The chicks are still being fed, so it's constantly flying back and forth.

The male at the east end of the lake was singing.

In the absence of Pigeon Eater (temporary, we hope) another Lesser Black-Backed Gull has been lording it over the area around the Dell restaurant for several days.

I've sometimes indistinctly glimpsed a young Grey Heron in a birch a few yards east of the fourth nest, but assumed it was one of the three chicks from that nest wandering around, as they do. But today it appeared ...

... and all three teenagers could also be seen in the fourth nest looking damp and disreputable. So there must be a fifth nest here, well hidden in the leaves.

The eight Coot chicks were milling around in the Italian Garden pool, and one of them climbed a duckboard to attack a Feral Pigeon. The resident Egyptian Geese were resting on the kerb.

You never normally see Coots on the duckboards, or for that matter ducks -- they prefer to jump or fly in and out. But pigeons use them as bathing stations. The Coot chick had attacked the pigeon when it was at the bottom of the board, it retreated, and the chick followed it up.

There was a huge mob of Egyptians by the Dell resturant, with more on the grass up the hill. Probably many of them have flown in to moult as the larger geese do, though Egyptians have a much vaguer schedule for moulting.

The Mallard on the Round Pond is still somehow holding on to her six ducklings.

The Mandarin was on the gravel strip with two ducklings visible. Another two came out from under her wing, but she has lost one since yesterday.

A Common Carder Bee had a thorough feed on a Brook Thistle flower. Each floret contains nectar and needs to be visited.

Young Starlings come out

The young Starlings are out, and some were pestering their parents at the Lido restaurant.

After a shower one drank from the rainwater on a metal tabletop.

The young Long-Tailed Tits at the northeast corner of the bridge were rushing around in the trees ...

... also expecting their parents to feed them.

The insistent Blue Tit in the Rose Garden perched in a yellow rose bush just long enough for a quick shot before it flew over and started demanding a pine nut to take to its young in the lamp post.

The female Little Owl at the Serpentine called to her mate from a hornbeam tree, but he was out of earshot and didn't answer. Males wander around more widely than females.

Two of the three young Grey Herons were making a racket in the nest. Except at feeding times you generally see only two now, with the third climbing somewhere in the tree. The adventurous one may not always be the same bird.

A heron stared intently into the algae in the Italian Garden, with the eight Coot chicks in the background. There are perch in this pool, seldom seen as they lurk under the weed.

The Italian Garden is the only place where whole broods of Coots survive. Even at Peter Pan the family on the south side, with plenty of bushes to shelter in, have lost one of their five. The four are still using their original nest as a resting place.

A Moorhen chick paddled through the algae under the Italian Garden.

The Mallard on the Round Pond was sheltering her ducklings from the wind.

The Mandarin still has five.

The pair at the Vista were having a dispute with a Carrion Crow.

The Mute Swan 4GIA, the male of the pair that originally occupied the nest site in the reeds east of the Lido, had returned and was standing by the entrance to the site, which was overgrown from disuse but now shows signs of being visited again. The swan in the foreground is not his mate 4DTI, it's a male and I couldn't see a ring. She may actually be in the reeds.

These three Canada x Greylag Goose hybrids regularly arrive in the park to moult in June.

Two squirrels were eating what at first I thought were pink flowers in a maple tree in the Dell, which would be a most unsquirrellike thing to do. But a closer look shows that the pink things are the winged seeds of the tree, which is a Tatarian Maple.

Buff-Tailed Bumblebees can't climb into hyssop flowers far enough to collect nectar or pollen ...

... but this one seems to have pierced the base of the flower with its proboscis. There is already a hole in the flower next to its right front foot.

A young Blackcap learns a lesson

A female Blackcap was ticking furiously at a Magpie at the northwest corner of the bridge.

One of her fledglings was on a branch eating a Seven-Spot Ladybird, a foul-tasting creature shunned by adult birds.

It looked around around thoughtfully: 'I'm not going to eat any more of those nasty red things.'

A Wood Pigeon browsed on pansies in a border in the Rose Garden. People eat pansies too in salads. They taste of mint.

One of the two young Grey Wagtails in the Dell stood on a rock below the small waterfall in the Dell, waiting for its parents to bring it insects.

A Reed Warbler under the Italian Garden had caught a fly. It took it in to the nest in the reeds.

The Wren on the yew hedge in the Flower Walk is used to people and not much worried by being photographed.

At Mount Gate one of the Coal Tits ...

... and one of the Robins came out on the railings to collect pine nuts for their fledglings.

On the opposite side of the road a family of Long-Tailed Tits was going through the Indian horse chestnut trees.

The male Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was in the sweet chestnut tree. He is tiny, even by the standards of male Little Owls, with enormous eyebrows.

A suprise beside the Serpentine: an Australian Galah, a species of cockatoo, Eolophus roseicapilla. They make popular pets, being intelligent, friendly and gregarious. Its owner had taken it out for a bicycle ride, and trusted it not to fly away. After it had had a little walk he picked it up, put it on his shoulder and rode off.

'Galah' is Australian slang for a silly person, a slur on a bright bird.

I'm glad to say that I was wrong about the Mandarin on the Round Pond having lost all her ducklings. She still has five of the original twelve.

What I had seen yesterday alone was a different female Mandarin, still on the pond today.

There was also a third female at the Vista, one of a pair.

The Mallard on the pond has so far managed to keep all six.

The Black Swan was touting for food. He was completely wild when he arrived last year, but quickly learned the ways of the park.

As I was going past Holy Trinity Church on my way home I spotted a Nettle Leaf Weevil, Polydrusus formosus.

Young Grey Wagtails in the Dell

Two young Grey Wagtails have hatched by the little stream in the Dell. Their parents were hunting midges along the edge of the Serpentine and flying in to feed them almost every minute.

The Blue Tits in the Rose Garden have more than two to feed, as you can hear a lot of faint twittering from their nest in the lamp post.

They were constantly shuttling down to a rose bush to collect pine nuts for them.

A Carrion Crow was bathing in ants on the grass below, but the tits' iron nest is safe from predators.

Not so this Wren with a nest in the bushes at the Triangle, which was nattering furiously at a pair of Magpies.

The Long-Tailed Tit family at the northwest corner of the bridge seldom move far from their nest site, as this shady little area is chock full of midges.

The Robins at Mount Gate are looking worn by feeding their chicks. At least one young one was hopping around in the bushes, but wouldn't come out to be photographed. It will.

This Robin at Peter Pan used to come for pine nuts in the cold weather, but now has enough insects and is standoffish. I don't think there was a nest here, or it would have been as eager as the ones at Mount Gate.

There was too much wind on the Round Pond for the Little Owls to come out. A pair of Blackbirds were foraging in the grass under their tree.

A Song Thrush sang briefly at the Vista. The spring birdsong is winding down now.

The Mute Swan family on the Long Water had discovered a particularly delicious patch of algae on the Long Water, and crowded together to feed. The mother brought up choice bits for the cygnets.

The wind was raising little choppy waves on the Round Pond, bouncing the six Mallard ducklings up and down.

But the female Mandarin was alone, and sadly it looks as if the Herring Gulls have had her ducklings. They were too independent, straying far over the water, and an easy target.

There was a pair of Mandarins at the Lido, but there would be no chance of breeding successfully here. In all the time I've been watching the lake, Mandarins have only succeeded once, when they managed to raise two young at Peter Pan.

Buff-Tailed Bumblebees browsed on catmint ...

... cranesbill ...

... and the little rose-like flowers on the brambles.