A Christmas Robin

It wouldn't be Christmas without a Robin. This one came out to be fed at Mount Gate ...

... followed by a Great Tit ...

... a Blue Tit ...

... and a Coal Tit.

A pair of Magpies preened together in a tree beside the Long Water. One briefly preened its mate, a sign of affection.

A Jay on the south shore of the Serpentine expected a peanut. This isn't a usual place to see them.

The Little Owl at the Round Pond was visible, but didn't want to come out on a dank dark day with persistent light drizzle.

A Grey Heron could just be seen in the occupied nest.

Its mate stood on a post below. It has a distinct red tinge to its bill, a sign of being in breeding condition ...

... but it isn't nearly as bright as the heron that is claiming this very undersized nest. It had just knocked another heron off the nest, and was nodding its head vigorously to show that it owned the site. However, its mate from last year hasn't turned up.

A first-year heron, too young for these shenanigans, was fishing from the landing stage on the other side of the lake.

Cormorants were fishing under the Italian Garden, but catching very little. A few weeks ago they were absolutely hauling up fish here. However, there will always be enough for the patient and skilled herons, so they can bring up their chicks properly.

The male Great Crested Grebe of the family from the east end of the island was calling his mate and young one, though these were out of sight from where I was.

Someone feeding the birds at the Vista had attracted three Mallards, two Pochards, a Gadwall, a Tufted Duck, two Coots, a Moorhen and the inevitable Black-Headed Gulls.

An idiot has managed to ram his car into the parapet of the Serpentine bridge, bringing down twenty feet of balustrade and some larger stones in the wall. Drivers often go off the outside of the sharp Z bend at the north end of the bridge, but this one had somehow managed to hit it on the inside of the curve, and very hard too. There was no sign of the car either on the bridge or on the path below where the stones had fallen.

Incidentally, there is a car in the lake, which ran in from the slope of the Triangle car park in the 1940s and has never been retrieved.

Waxwings getting closer

A Blackbird called in alarm from a tree in the Rose Garden. I couldn't see what had disturbed it, but there are always Carrion Crows and Magpies around, and Blackbirds are extremely nervous.

The male Chaffinch followed me from the Flower Walk to the Round Pond, and from there to the bridge. Here for a change is a picture of his much less adventurous mate, who will also take pine nuts thrown in the air but stays in the Flower Walk.

A Coal Tit perched in a few remaining yellow leaves.

A Blue Tit looked for insects in a tree in the Rose Garden.

A Great Tit waited in a winter-flowering cherry at the bridge. The tree is a rather feeble specimen and never produces more than a few stunted blossoms.

David Element got the best picture of the day. The advancing Waxwings have got as far as Balham, where they are attracted by the fruit on an ornamental rowan tree in a garden.

On a day with a sharp wind, the Little Owl at the Round Pond waited till it was nearly dark before she appeared at the back of her hole. I had to use the special twilight setting on my smaller camera to get any kind of a picture.

Black-Headed Gulls beside the Serpentine hovered by flying into the wind to catch bits of bread being thrown into the air.

The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull was on the ground below to catch anything they missed.

The wind stopped the Grey Herons from doing any nest building. I suppose the sitting heron was on the nest, but hunkered down to get out of the wind and invisible from the shore. The one unattached heron was standing on the edge of the island.

The female Great Crested Grebe from the nest on the island cruised past Fisherman's Keep.

By going well past the end of the reed bed it was just possible to see the whole family. The young grebe was on the right, heading off to fish along the edge of the reeds.

Two pairs of Coots were having yet another fight.

Blondie was walking up the edge near the Dell restaurant.

The Black Swan preened his ruffles on the edge of the Round Pond

A label tied to the railings at the bridge proved to be a sad memorial.

But there was a cheerful sound of Harley-Davidsons, and a band of bikers dressed as Father Christmas trundled over the bridge.

A very happy Christmas to all readers, and may the New Year bring some much needed improvements to us all.

A Finnish gull

A grey and uneventful day was brightened by a good view of the Little Owl at the Round Pond, who had come out at the front of her hole.

The only other notable event was the reappearance of the Finnish Black-Headed Gull, ST292.799, which I last saw in 2019. It was on the north shore of the Serpentine near the boathouse, and stood patiently while I trotted around it photographing the ring from every angle to get the complete number. All too often this makes them fly away before you've finished.

The aggressive gull at the landing stage was keeping watch from the head of the Big Bird statue.

The odd couple of a Lesser Black-Backed Gull and a Herring Gull called to each other by the Triangle car park.

The pigeon eater, in his usual place by the Dell restaurant, was looking cross because the press of crowds visiting the Winter Wasteland had dispersed the pigeons, and he hadn't had his lunch.

The vast majority of the Herring Gulls on the lake are in their first or second year. This seems to show that the breeding colony in Paddington is expanding rapidly. In contrast the Black-Headed Gulls, which breed elsewhere, are mostly adults -- though the effect is skewed because they grow up in two years while the big gulls take four.

On the island one pair of Grey Herons tinkered with the twigs on their nest, and one of them affectionately preened the other. They haven't started sitting yet ...

... but the other pair has, and this is the third day I've seen a sitting bird on the nest. However, it's almost impossible to get a recognisable picture. You can just see its head through the twigs in the top right corner.

A young heron perched on the marble fountain in the Italian Garden.

Great Crested Grebes claim territories even when not nesting, and border disputes are common. Usually they content themselves with adopting the low threat posture and circling and diving, as here, and seldom fight. The last scene shows one of the other pair doing the same thing in the opposite direction.

Moorhens spend most of their time mildly pottering around looking for small edible creatures, and here are an adult and a teenager in the Italian Garden, and an adult on the edge of the Serpentine. But if a Moorhen sees a Black-Headed Gull standing on a post, it greatly enjoys knocking it off.

A few years ago there were two Canada Geese with white-speckled heads on the Serpentine, probably siblings. One of them stayed here, but sadly became ill and died a few months ago. I'm not sure whether this one is the survivor or another bird. It only appeared (or reappeared) recently.

A Gadwall drake looked quietly smart at the Lido. The vermiculated pattern on their feathers is wonderful.

A Pied Wagtail hunted along the edge.

A Robin sang in the Rose Garden shrubbery.

Great Black-Backed Gull

Great Black-Backed Gulls are occasional visitors to the park. One was standing on the gravel strip on the Long Water with a dead fish too large even for this huge predatory gull to have caught, so it must have died of other causes. The Carrion Crow in the picture gives an idea of how big the gull is, with a wingspan of 5½ feet (1.68 m).

After eating a bit it moved away, and a Grey Heron and a couple of crows had a go.

A crow bathed in the little stream in the Dell.

A row of Black-Headed Gulls stood on a small fallen poplar in the Long Water. All are now getting their dark heads ...

... but are way behind the dominant gull on the landing stage, which has been in full breeding plumage for weeks.

Great Crested Grebes are also variable in the time they get their breeding plumage. The male from the nest at the bridge, seen here by Peter Pan, has never faded into winter plumage but his crest is looking worn and threadbare ...

... while this male on the Serpentine has smart fresh feathers ready for the new year.

The youngest grebe is also off schedule, being very slow to lose its juvenile stripes. It was fishing by itself at the Serpentine outflow and caught a fish, but I missed the shot because it was instantly rushed by a Coot and had to dive. I don't think I've ever seen a young grebe still so stripy when it's fully independent.

The Serpentine island is now a busy place, with a pair of Grey Herons starting to nest at the top left of this picture; one heron claiming a nest site but without its mate from last year  -- this is the one with the very red bill  --- at bottom left; and one unattached bird at top right.

The heron with the red bill looked up at the other two. They're too close for peace, and it will have to choose a different nest. There are quite a lot left from last year in restorable condition.

However, it's worrying that the red-billed heron's mate hasn't shown up this year.

A young heron was fishing in the collapsed willow at the bridge.

Two young Cormorants stood on the remains of the fallen horse chestnut. There are still about a dozen Cormorants in the park but they are catching noticeably fewer fish and must be near the point of diminishing returns.

The Mute Swans on the Serpentine have continued to creep back from the east end despite the threat from the killer swan. There were four on the island at 1.30 pm.

However, at 3 pm a single swan, apparently injured, was reported on the island. It was getting dark on the shortest day and the boat hire place was closing so it was too late to organise a rescue, which will have to be done in the morning. It seems likely that the killer swan had attacked it.

There is a new arrival at the east end of the lake, a small young apparently female swan at front left in this picture. This is not the one that flew in earlier from Regent's Park, which has the ring 4FYW.

The Mallards have returned to the Dell and evicted the Moorhens from their favourite rock.

A party of Long-Tailed Tits passed through the treetops near the Italian Garden. They are very difficult to photograph in dark conditions and this isn't much of a picture.

The Little Owl at the Round Pond has recently been staying out of sight till quite late in the afternoon, so there is also difficulty in getting a reasonable picture of her. But it's good to see her at all.