Report of a Skylark

A Grey Wagtail, not seen here for weeks, flew on to a post on the Long Water. From here it went to the Serpentine, but I couldn't find it there. It's young, without a dark bib.

Pied Wagtails seem to call just for the sake of it, even when no other wagtails are anywhere near. The roofs of the two boathouses are a popular hunting ground, as insects lurk between the tiles or slates.

A Robin sang in the shrubbery in the Rose Garden.

The Little Owl had moved to a different branch of her usual horse chestnut tree.

While I was trying to find her, half a dozen Jackdaws arrived to ask politely for peanuts, along with an equal number of pushy Magpies.

I was also approached by Jackdaws in several other places. Since their return about eight years ago their numbers have increased strongly, though we shall never have as many as the hordes seen in Richmond Park, where they have almost ousted the Carrion Crows.

The Peregrines were together again on the barracks tower.

While I was looking at them I met Dave Jordan, one of the Hyde Park managers. He had some interesting news. First, he had seen a Skylark earlier (which I then looked for but didn't find). Second, more reed beds are to be planted around the edge of the Serpentine, which is good news.

He asked me if the Peregrines had bred and I told him no, as there was nowhere on the bare aluminium of the ridge for them to nest; but I had seen them mating there several times and I was sure that if they had a tray of gravel they would nest. He said he would see if he could persuade the Household Cavalry to put one up. I've already spoken to one of the officers but obviously he would have more influence. Let's hope something comes of it.

A young Grey Heron stared into a plane tree on the shore by the island. Maybe it had seen a rat under the tree.

A Lesser Black-Backed Gull with bright yellow feet cruised under the bridge. I wondered if it was the Pigeon Eater, but no ...

... he was in his usual place at the Dell restaurant. He seemed to have killed twice today. His son was finishing the scanty remains of one victim ...

... while the gull himself, feeling peckish again after a large breakfast and lunch, was returning to the other, only to see it carried away by a Herring Gull.

He soothed his hurt feelings by washing his face, like a cat.

Three Cormorants fished together around the old Coot nest at the bridge. It's an efficient technique as fish scared away by one bird may run into the reach of another.

The Black Swan and his white girlfriend grazed together beside the Round Pond.

The dominant Mute Swans took their family on a tour of inspection of the Long Water ...

... then returned to the Serpentine where the teenagers amused themselves by doing some flying practice.

A closer look at what Mario tells me are the male flower buds of the Chinese Water Fir at the Serpentine outflow. They are about the size of petits pois. For his remarks on the common name of the tree, see his comment below.

Nervous Robin

A Robin in the Rose Garden looked ornamental among rose hips, but was nervous with people passing close by on the path. It's too public a place for singing, but it had an occasional quiet twitter.

A Blue Tit in the Flower Walk was fed up with being photographed and wanted another pine nut.

A Magpie was also waiting in a red oak beside the Vista.

Two good pictures by Mark Williams: a Jay in St James's Park snatching a nut from his hand ...

... and a Carrion Crow on a dead tree near the Flower Walk.

The Little Owl at the Round Pond was still staying on her favourite horse chestnut branch.

The Peregrines were together on the barracks tower. The female, on the right here, is still being exasperating about showing her left leg with the plastic ring I am trying to read.

Starlings gathered and chattered on the Lido restaurant terrace.

A Mute Swan had found a tasty patch of grass on the edge of the terrace, and wasn't going to let the noisy crowd of humans put it off eating.

The pigeon-killing Lesser Black-Backed Gull had finished his lunch, leaving his son to finish off the remains. (I really do think his offspring is male, as it's very large.)

When the proprietorial Black-Headed Gull is not on the landing stage he owns, he's usually found looking over his territory from the head of the Big Bird statue.

Cormorants crowded on the fallen poplar in the Long Water.

A Great Crested Grebe on the nest at the bridge was watchful. There were a lot of Mallards around and it didn't want one claiming the nest again.

The youngest chick from the island has started to fish for itself. But when it saw a parent on the other side of the lake it hurried over and started begging again.

A squirrel carried a conker up a horse chestnut tree. They seem to be able to deal with the poisonous alkalods the seeds contain. I am not sure whether the large reddish brown bracket fungus is an old Beefsteak Fungus, Fistulina hepatica, or a Ganoderma species. Update: Mario tells me it's G. resinaceum.

And I have no idea about the species of these tiny white mushrooms under another horse chestnut across the road from the Serpentine Gallery. Update: not enough detail for Mario to identify.

Déjeuner sur l'herbe

Warning: this video is pretty grisly.

Duncan Campbell found a Sparrowhawk on the ground near the Albert Memorial with a pigeon she had just caught, and filmed her eating her fill and finally carrying it off to save the rest for later. His original video was a quarter of an hour long. Here are some excerpts.

A female Sparrowhawk is just large enough to be able to fly carrying a pigeon. A male isn't, and has to drag the victim into the bushes.

Another notable pigeon killer was surveying his domain from the roof of the Dell restaurant.

His presence had banished the Herring Gulls to a respectful distance, but his son from this year was in the water below, and so was this second-year Lesser Black-Backed Gull examnining a snack packet. I wonder whether it's his offspring from last year. I don't know how long big gulls remain on familiar terms their young, but I don't think it's for very long. The pigeon killer's toleration of his most recent offspring seems exceptional.

The Little Owl at the Round Pond was in her usual place.

The Peregrines were on the tower in the morning, but had flown off by the time I got close enough for a picture.

A Magpie enjoyed a bathe in the pool at the top of the Dell fountain.

A Wren made a racket in the leaf yard.

A Blue Tit walked up the underside of a twig looking for insects.

A Cormorant on a post in the Long Water preened in the sunshine.

The collapsed weeping willow at the bridge is a favourite place for Mallards to gather, and a female had come there to rest. Unfortunately she had chosen to do this on the Great Crested Grebes' nest which, though no longer used, is still claimed by its owners. (The bit of blue plastic was certainly put there as an ornament  by a Coot when this was squatting on the nest.)

One of the grebes, passing by, noticed her ...

... and advanced, calling his mate.

The two of them were too much for the duck, which left hastily.

The grebes congratulated each other and did a little maintenance to show the place was theirs.

This isn't a good picture: a hasty snatched shot of a Migrant Hawker dragonfly flying away from the Italian Garden. I didn't have time to turn the speed up on the camera. But it does show that they are still around.

A patch of monkshood in the Rose Garden had a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee climbing in and out of the bells.

The fatsia bush at the bridge hasn't flowered well this year and there are only a few Common Wasps in it.

But the ivy at the back of the Lido is full of flowers and much visited.

There was also a large fly which I think is Tachina fera. It doesn't seem to have a common name.

Olives

Perhaps surprisingly, the little olive tree at the Lido restaurant has produced some olives. They are rock hard and unlikely to ripen any further in the English climate, but Wood Pigeons don't mind that and this one was bolting them down stone and all.

The mild sunshine brought out some Feral Pigeons to bask in the grass on Buck Hill.

There was a beautifully marbled one on the shore near the Serpentine island.

On the path at the foot of Buck Hill three Robins had accidentally got too close together and were chasing each other round the trees. I got hasty shots of two of them.

A Wren near Peter Pan was protesting loudly as usual.

A Pied Wagtail looked a bit windswept on the roof of one of the boathouses.

The Little Owl at the Round Pond was out in her usual spot in the top of the horse chestnut tree. For the past few weeks she's always been in more or less the same place, but the moment you start assuming an owl is going to stay there it gets bored and goes off somewhere else.

More Common Gulls have arrived, with two on the posts at Peter Pan and a third on the buoys at the Lido. I haven't found any at the Round Pond yet but that is the place where they usually gather.

A Black-Headed Gull ringed by Bill Haines, Orange 2V80, stood on the gravel strip in the Round Pond. I was looking at all the Black-Headed Gulls I could find to see if the Mediterranean Gull was among them, but without success.

A Cormorant preened its neck with a foot on a post at Peter Pan.

A young Grey Heron stood by the lake at the Triangle car park, hoping a fish would incautiously come close to the edge.

The youngest Great Crested Grebe chick from the island now has a little black crest, but it's still dependent on its parents. Mother looks after it while father goes fishing.

The Moorhens in the Dell were back together.

Egyptian Geese made the most of the doomed grass on the Parade Ground before the area is plated over and becomes part of the Winter Wasteland.

A clump of Baby Sage in the Rose Garden attracted a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee ...

... and several Honeybees.