Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery again

The male Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery looked down from the broken top of the old chestnut tree where the pair has nested in previous years. They may have to find another place this year, as the Carrion Crows seem set to reuse their last year's nest in this tree. He is very small even by the standards of male Little Owls, but has the most tremendous eyebrows.

There seem to be more Pied Wagtails. Perhaps some have been driven south by the cold weather. This is one of two on the north shore of the Serpentine ...

... and there were also two on the Vista. One reached down ...

... and came up with a small larva.

Sunlit Starlings hunted insects by the leaf yard until put to flight by a passing dog.

The familiar Robin was waiting here, though we had trouble with divebombing Starlings. You simply can't start feeding these, as they will never leave you alone if you do.

The Robin in the Rose Garden stared fiercely at the camera which was delaying delivery of his pine nuts.

Both the Coal Tits were waiting ...

... and so was one in the Dell, looking impatient.

The Long-Tailed Tits were busy at the northwest corner of the bridge.

At the other end of the bridge there was a female Chaffinch I don't think I've seen before, rather dark in colour. This is definitely not the mate of the male that chases me around Kensington Gardens.

A Carrion Crow had been bathing in the marble fountain in the Italian Garden.

A pair of Magpies perched together in a nearby tree ...

... and three Jays followed me down the east side of the Long Water.

There is a second pair of Coots nesting in the Italian Garden. The irises in the planters are growing up fast and will soon give both nests good cover, though Coots do trend to rip up the plants around their nests.

The Mandarin drake was back again, standing uner the small willow at the corner of the Triangle to avoid being disturbed by passers by. While some of them may give him food, his fantastic plumage gets him more attention than he likes.

A squirrel sniffed for bulbs in a flower bed in the Rose Garden, founds a small one, and ate it. Quite a lot of bulbs are poisonous. I wonder if they can distinguish these, or do they just have a high resistance?

The Albert Memorial was sunlit against a stormy sky.

Robin gets a worm

A Robin hauled a worm out of the leaf litter near the Buck Hill shelter. It flew away, but would return before the worm had had a chance to dig itself in and peck it into bite-sized pieces.

One of the Robins at Mount Gate waited expectantly on the railings.

A Jay on a branch above was also looking hopeful ...

... as were a Carrion Crow on one of the giant flower pots at the Dell restaurant ...

... and a Blue Tit in the Rose Garden.

Other people are now feeding the Coal Tits in the Dell, which now turn up as soon as you stand by the railings.

The ever hungry male Chaffinch, who flies all over Kensington Gardens, was on the east lawn at the Albert Memorial, where he ate several pine nuts.

A Blackbird dug in the leaves under a chestnut tree by the leaf yard.

Two Pied Wagtails hunted insects in the carefully maintained turf around the Diana fountain. There had been four, but I was alerted to their presence by two of them taking off and tweeting loudly as they flew across the lake.

A Wren was singing in a ceanothus bush at the edge of the enclosure, and came into sight just long enough for one hasty photograph.

Most of the Black-Headed Gulls have now gone off to their breeding grounds, but the Czech visitor has not yet left for the lake at Hobšovice, a few miles northwest of Prague, where he was hatched in 2021.

The young Grey Herons in the nest at the east end of the island exchanged stares with an adult in the other nest. It may have been one of their parents: when I had got round to the other side of the lake there was a loud clattering from that direction. Both these nests were successfully used for breeding last year.

A Coot at the east end of the Serpentine tried to haul a twig to a nest in the reed bed, but this was firmly attached to a submerged branch and wouldn't come. It had to give up.

Just as you thought the Coots nesting in the Italian Garden were settled in one spot they decided they liked another place better and have built another nest, I think their fourth this year.

The Mute Swan nest site in the reeds east of the Lido has been trampled, and it seems that a pair is planning to nest there. A female swan, 4FYI, was hanging around the entrance.

The Egyptian Geese on the Serpentine have now lost their last gosling, but the pair with nine on the Round Pond still have them all.

More gravel is being added to the strip in the pond, probably not to enlarge it but because the original gravel has settled and the strip has shrunk. The fresh surface will soon be as foul and stinking as ever, but at least the geese like it.

The sloth and the newt have their places of trust

It was a dismal grey day and, as you would expect, the Little Owls at the Round Pond were staying indoors. But Malachi the gardener has found a pair in the garden of the Ranger's Cottage, and here is a picture of one of them he took on this phone.

These are descendants of the first Little Owls to arrive in the park, which were first spotted in the same area in December 2011. It wasn't till the following April that three more pairs flew into Kensington Gardens.

The Fieldfare was still on the Parade Ground ...

... but the Redwings were staying in the trees.

The pair of Robins in the Rose Garden were being reasonably civil to each other ...

... and one of the Coal Tits was waiting on a budding twig.

The yellow spring flowers show off Great Tits to their best advantage: Buttercup Winter Hazel (Corylopsis pauciflora) ...

... Forsythia ...

... and just plain daffodils.

One of the splendid band of volunteers from London Wildlife Protection, who work independently of (and often despite) the authorities, was removing a tangle of fishing line from the foot of a Feral Pigeon beside the Serpentine.

Pigeon Eater and his mate watched the proceedings with interest. But the pigeons in this area know him well and he now has to go farther afield to grab inexperienced young pigeons which haven't learnt how dangerous he is.

The young Grey Heron in the Dell was puzzled, as the little waterfall had stopped flowing. This was because Hydro Cleansing were cleaning out the water filter at the top of the dam and had temporarily stopped water going through with a line of sandbags across the intake.

A pair of Coots started a fight by the boathouses, their mates joined in, and fury spread through the whole group. They are most aggressive at this time of year.

The Coot nesting on the post at Peter Pan resented the presence of a Cormorant, but there was nothing it could do. If they will nest in this silly place they have to expect such things.

The nest on the other side of the waterfront is much better sited, and chicks from here have often grown up.

Sad to say, the Egyptian Geese on the Serpentine are now down to their last gosling.

The Black Swan preened his splendid feathers and cruised off ...

... to meet his white friend.

A rat strolled through the undergrowth by the Buck Hill shelter.

Not all readers may approve of rats, but it is well to heed the wise words of Eliza Cook (1818-89):

        There's a mission, no doubt, for the mole in the dust,

        As there is for the charger, with nostrils of pride;

        The sloth and the newt have their places of trust,

        And the agents are needed, for God has supplied.

You can make up your own mind about what she meant by the last line.

Blackbird singing

Blackbirds are the last thrushes to start singing in spring, but they have finally made the effort. This one at the leaf yard was answered by a Robin, and then flew away. Its flight call sounds indignant, but is quite normal for a Blackbird.

Theodore got a pleasing shot of the Fieldfare on the Parade Ground standing beside a Redwing.

The pair of Coal Tits in the Dell are now regularly coming down to the railings to take pine nuts.

A Wood Pigeon ate buds in a small tree at Mount Gate under a waxing moon.

Below, the Robin pair came out together to collect pine nuts.

Three Goldfinches were twittering in a tree near the Buck Hill shelter.

The male Little Owl at the Round Pond was out in a horse chestnut tree. We don't see him as often as his mate, as male Little Owls range around widely and may spend the day quite far from the nest hole.

A Grey Heron preened in blossom at the Triangle.

The heron in the top nest looked down at a pair in another nest. It has been sitting for quite a while but over the last two days I've seen it standing. This can mean that the eggs ahve hatched -- or that they've failed. We shall have to wait and see.

One of the young herons in the first nest had climbed up into the branches above.

A pair of Great Crested Grebes dozing on the Serpentine ...

... woke up. Before they could go fishing it was necessary to have a little ceremony, as much a part of a grebe's life as it was for Louis XIV at Versailles.

Coots fought on the Serpentine and one held its rival under water, forcing the loser to give up.

The pair in the Italian Garden seem well settled on their nest, but there are no eggs yet.

A Cormorant was fishing under the Italian Garden. It didn't catch anything while I was there.

The remaining carp in the fountain pools are too large for Cormorants.

The number of Shovellers on the Long Water is slowly increasing, and today I saw thirteen.

The Mallard pair in the Dell have ousted the Moorhens from the rock in the stream. There's only one rock and both of them want it, but Mallards are bigger and always win.