First returning Fieldfare at Rainham Marshes

A Coal Tit in the Flower Walk looked out from the leaves of a dogwood bush.

The one in the Dell was in its usual yew tree, a safe and sheltered place for a very small bird.

The female Chaffinches in the Flower Walk ...

... and the Rose Garden also appeared. Unlike the males, they don't catch thrown pine nuts in the air and have to fed on the ground, which is difficult if there are pigeons about.

There were eager looks from the Robins at the southwest corner of the bridge ...

... and Mount Gate.

Starlings at the Dell restaurant chattered as they waited for a chance to grab scraps off a table.

A Magpie in the Dell showed off the iridescence on its wings and tail.

Tom found a Fieldfare in the top of a hawthorn at Rainham Marshes, so it's time to start looking out for winter migrant thrushes.

He also got unusual pictures of Bearded Tits flying high over the reeds.

The tunnel under the north side of the Serpentine bridge is now closed while the stonework is repaired, so the local Grey Heron will have less opportunity to beg off passers by. A Carrion Crow eyed it, plotting mischief.

Pigeon Eater lunged at a Feral Pigeon, but it saw him in time.

A Mute Swan bit experimentally at a small potato someone had put on the edge, but abandoned it. People have the strangest ideas about what to feed birds.

A Black-Headed Gull examined the potato next and also rejected it.

The young Great Crested Grebe at the east end of the Serpentine was fishing out in the open water. It caught a fish, but swallowed it before I could get the camera on it. It was an encouraging sight anyway.

Pairs of Egyptian and Greylag Geese called routinely to each other as they went about their business. Both would make far more noise if excited. They are the loudest creatures in the park.

Ahmet Amerikali was at Southwark Park , where he got a picture of one of the Little Grebes ...

... and an action shot of a Mallard drake taking off.

Black Swan's new friend

The lonely Black Swan on the Round Pond seems to have found a new friend, not a Mute Swan but the odd Canada Goose with a speckled head. I filmed them together on Sunday, and they were still together this afternoon. Maybe the Canada is lonely too, excluded by its normal relatives.

A packet of cornflakes dumped on the edge of the Round Pond started a feeding frenzy with the numerous swans and any bird that could fit into the mob.

A skein of Canada Geese flew round the Serpentine several times before splashing down.

The trio of the Gadwall drake and two Mallards is still together, and they were on the edge of the lake by the Dell restaurant.

The young Great Crested Grebe from the nest by the bridge was fishing by itself in the blue reflection of the pontoons.

A young Moorhen stared suspiciously at the camera by the Dell retaurant.

Young gulls love things that roll, and this Herring Gull played with a good round conker before flying away with it.

A Wren in the Dell paused for a moment in a bush.

One of the Coal Tits came out in the big yew tree to take pine nuts.

A Coal Tit in the Rose Garden waited in a rose bush. Both of these are paired but only one of each appeared.

The familiar Robin perched in a small hawthorn.

The male Chaffinch was under a bush ...

... with his mate on a stem above.

A Magpie looked down from the red Japanese maple by the bridge.

A Carrion Crow perched next to a false yucca in an urn in the Italian Garden.  This is one of the original urns from 1860, very eroded by weather and with a new swan head put on at the restoration of the garden in 2011.

A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee fed on an arbutus flower in the Rose Garden.

The bright red flowers of a bottlebrush bush, Malaleuca rugulosa, in the Dell, interested a wasp but it didn't land.

A little clump of Common Bonnet mushrooms appeared by the Queen's Gate crossing of the Flower Walk. The scientific name is Mycena galericulata, both also hat words. Mycena refers to the hats worn by the inhabitants of Mycenae, and galericulata is Latin for 'wearing a little hat'.

Wet day

Rain pelted down on the Italian Garden, but the Coots and Moorhens can cope and a Carrion Crow has seen worse.

A Robin in the Rose Garden was looking very soggy on a box bush, but gladly accepted some pine nuts.

 

A quarter of an hour later it was back on a bench, even wetter and hungrier.

The female Chaffinch sheltered in a rose bush.

A Coal Tit kept dry by staying in an evergreen oak, only flying out to take food and quickly returning.

A Great Tit emerged from one of the innumerable varieties of salvia grown in the park.

A Blue Tit perched in the pink leaves of a spindle bush by the bridge.

A pair of Magpies nattered in a hawthorn beside the Long Water.

A Pied Wagtail hunted along the edge of the Serpentine.

There are usually Long-Tailed Tits at the back of the Lido, and some nest here every year.

At the Lido restuarant a Wood Pigeon climbed in an olive tree trying to pick the fruit, without much success as most of it was unripe and firmly attached to the tree.

There are plenty of olives.

It used to be said that the only olive tree in London that bore fruit was a big old one in the Chelsea Physic Garden warmed by being set against a sunlit wall. This one is in a corner of two brick walls and must get some warmth not only from the sun but also from the busy restaurant next to it. One of the fruits was already ripe. The olive harvest in Mediterranean countries is in November and December.

A Grey Heron stood on one of the wire baskets surrounding the island. It looks a very uncomfortable perch, but they seem not to mind and often fish from here.

The young Great Crested Grebe from the east end of the Serpentine was by itself fishing along the edge.

Coots kept flying, or at least skittering, up the Serpentine for no apparent reason. There wasn't much wind to encourage flying.

A pair of Egyptian Geese live in the Rose Garden, some distance from the lake. Their source of water is the Huntress fountain, which is almost always broken but fills up with rainwater.

The stump of the broken Lombardy poplar ar Peter Pan is now covered in Poplar Fieldcap mushrooms. The mycelium from which the mushrooms grow seems to have detected that the tree is dying.

Fearless Pied Wagtail

On a Sunday with reasonable weather the park was busy, but most of the regulars could be seen. They included the Robin at the southwest corner of the bridge, which is slowly getting more confident and came to my hand twice.

The Robin in the hawthorn in the Rose Garden is quite used to being fed and took six pine nuts.

The Coal Tit perched for an instant in the same tree while chasing me all round the garden ...

... and there were several Blue Tits.

The Chaffinch pair waited in a rose bush.

A flock of Long-Tailed Tits moved through the treetops on the south shore of the Serpentine.

A Pied Wagtail hunting on the edge came right up to my feet.

A pure white Feral Pigeon helped demolish a bowl of chips at the Lido restaurant.

A Magpie stared from a hawthorn beside the Long Water.

The two Common Gulls on the buoys at the Lido swimming area, which have been perching at opposite ends for several days, finally made friends with each other.

Pigeon Eater, in his favourite place on the Dell restaurant roof, was ruffled by the east wind.

A young Herring Gull played with a leaf.

Continuing the topic of the late arrival of gulls in cities, L. Fairfax pointed out a very interesting post on the Londonist blog.

The single Great Crested Grebe at the island rested under a bush.

The Coots' nest at the bridge was destroyed by the workmen putting up the pontoon, but the Coots are still obstinately staying on the spot. They're standing on a wire basket just below the surface and will have no difficulty in remaking the nest in spring. However, their efforts will be in vain as usual, for no nest in that exposed place has ever succeeeded.

A little girl at the Round Pond who had been to the ballet voiced her opinion of the Black Swan.

There were five Red-Crested Pochard drakes on the Long Water. Their comings and goings are irregular as they circulate around the central London parks.

The swamp cypress by the Italian Garden has turned a hectic ginger but has put out green catkins, which will gradually mature over the winter in the seasonal cycle of this odd deciduous conifer.