Sparrowhawk by the bridge

The female Little Owl at the Round Pond was visible in a horse chestnut tree, though she was well hidden among the leaves and it took three quarters of an hour's dodging about to find the only place she could be seen from.

The Sparrowhawks from Hyde Park often do a tour of Kensington Gardens in the morning, not always at the same time and you have to be lucky to spot them. Ahmet Amerikali was, and found the female in an oak tree at the southwest corner of the bridge.

He also got a good picture of one of the Goldcrests nesting here ...

... and I got a shot of one of the local Long-Tailed Tits above their nest in the brambles.

Another Long-Tailed Tit preened on a branch in the Dell. It's one of the pair nesting in a bush below.

A Robin in the Rose Garden was nervous, probably owing to a Jay on a branch above.

One of the Coal Tits at Mount Gate managed to knock a Robin off my hand in a furious kamikaze dive.

A Blackcap sang at Peter Pan.

A Magpie strolled through the daisies on the grassy bank at the Lido.

The single Mandarin drake was also here ...

... and so were the Egyptian Geese with the eldest gosling.

The Egyptians with very young goslings were keeping them by the boat hire platform so that they could hide under it if danger threatened. You could see eight of them, but it's possible that a ninth was under the platform.

A pair on top of a pollarded tree by the Serpentine saw rivals on the ground below and yelled at them. They got a defiant answer, but in the end the rivals crept away grumbling.

The Mallard at the boathouse is still managing to hold on to her five ducklings. This picture was taken through a barrier put up by people working on the boathouse, which is giving them useful protection from swooping gulls.

The Black Swan was preening at the Dell restaurant, without his girlfriend for the second day running. It's possible that they've split up after their failed attempt to settle in a nest.

The nine Coot chicks in the Italian Garden fountain were milling about while their parents fed them. This one is getting a larva.

In the Flower Walk a female Hairy-Footed Flower Bee worked over a patch of ajuga ...

... but a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee preferred green alkanet.

Thunder and hail

It was a typical English April day of thunder and hail, though there were some sunny spells. The new leaves on the trees are a reminder that we'll get through Eliot's cruellest month.

A Robin by the Triangle was collecting insects for its nestlings somewhere in the shrubbery.

The pair at Mount Gate haven't started nesting yet. They should get a move on.

The usual Coal Tit picked me up at Mount Gate and followed me as far as the Albert Memorial. This is a different one in the Flower Walk wondering whether it dares come to my hand. It didn't, but it probably will soon.

A pair of Long-Tailed Tits is nesting in a bush in the Dell.

A Pied Wagtail at the boat hire platform took a brief rest from hunting midges.

The pair of Jays at the northeast corner of the Long Water hadn't been seen for a while but turned up again today, as hungry as ever.

A Carrion Crow also arrived. It dunked its peanut in a puddle, as crows do.

The Great Crested Grebe nest at the Vista is still on the go. Is it late enough in the year for there to be enough small fish to feed the chicks? In past years a few have survived from this time, but the best time for grebes to nest is midsummer and most of them realise this.

There were three peacefully together by the Dell restaurant, a sign that they are recently arrived and haven't yet started claiming territory.

Coot nests are going up everywhere, including in some very silly places. This attempt on the open edge of the Serpentine will probably be abandoned soon. Even Coots sometime realise when an enterprise is hopeless.

The nine Coot chicks in the Italian Garden fountain are now starting to feed themselves, cropping algae off the stone kerb. Their parents are still bringing them food and will continue for some time.

The female Mute Swan on the Long Water nesting island got up to turn her eggs. You can't count them from this low angle of view, especially as they are mixed up with white feathers shed in preening.

The Black Swan had been chased away from the east end of the Serpentine by the aggressive male 4FUK and was by himself, looking rather melancholy.

The brood of nine Egyptian goslings on the Serpentine was surprisingly intact.

The single gosling at the Lido was feeding among the daisies.

A family with four teenagers was disturbed by riders. They were not in real danger as horses pick their steps carefully, but the riders' behaviour seems a shade oafish. The family must be the one from Marble Arch which has come down to the park, maybe for the first time as I haven't seen them here before.

A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee landed on a bluebell in the Dell but was too large to get in. It flew off to find a more accommodating flower.

More wind

A female Magpie fluttered her wings, begging her mate (and perhaps me too) to feed her. She needs to know that he will bring her food when she's nesting.

The bold Robin at Mount Gate doesn't need to beg. It knows that it can have all the pine nuts it wants from my hand. Many thanks to Jon Spoard for this pleasing picture.

A Goldcrest posed grandly in the yew at the corner of the Dell. Photographs make these tiny birds look much larger than they are.

A pair of Chaffinches ...

... and a pair of Blackcaps chased each other around in a tree at Peter Pan.

It was too windy today for a Little Owl to come out, but Ng Soon Lee got this fine picture of the female at the Serpentine Gallery shortly after 6 am yesterday.

The choppy waves tossed a Mute Swan, Mallards, Coots and a Great Crested Grebe.

Pigeon Eater and his mate were bouncing around by the Dell restaurant. There was a partly eaten dead pigeon on the opposite shore, probably his work.

A headwind encourages water birds to do some flying because it lessens the effort of taking off. A Canada Goose flapped heavily up the Serpentine.

A Moorhen contemplated the Mute Swans nesting at the Serpentine outflow.

Moorhen nests are always well hidden, but I saw a bird bringing a bit of reed to a bush at the Vista ...

... and you could get an indistinct view of the nest.

Two of the Coot chicks in the Italian Garden were climbing around on the dead iris leaves in a planter.

A pair of Egyptian Geese on the Serpentine have brought out nine new goslings, which they were sensibly keeping next to a metal barrier to deter swooping gulls.

There was an Egyptian Goose alone at the Vista. Evidently his mate is nesting.

The eldest gosling at the Lido was browsing on the grassy bank.

A Common Carder bee visited a patch of Rock Cranesbill in the Rose Garden.

Cowslips come up every spring at the southwest corner of the bridge. They were planted many years ago, along with some primroses, by a gardener who loved our native wildflowers, and are now spreading along the path.

Blackcaps everywhere

A Blackcap sang beside the Long Water. I was using a highly directional microphone to filter out the sound of the Sunday crowd on the path but couldn't remove the voice of one man right next to me talking about what a good singer some human was, yet ignoring this wonderful performance.

There are six singing male Blackcaps around the Long Water, and plenty of others elsewhere. It's a bumper year for them.

Tinúviel was out for an evening walk with her husband in the streets of Cáceres in western Spain when they heard a Nightingale singing in a tree. It was out of sight but the song is lovely.

The Long-Tailed Tits were zooming around in the trees by the bridge.

A Starling enjoyed an apple someone had put out for the parakeets.

One of the Robins at Mount Gate demanded pine nuts.

A Carrion Crow on a stump plotted some dastardly act.

Tom was at Rainham Marshes where he got a picture of a Wood Warbler, a bird I've never seen.

Six Coot chicks in the Italian Garden fountain kept their parents hard at work hauling up bits of algae for them.

The Egyptian Geese with the eldest gosling, missing from the Lido for two days, have turned up again. The young one is now growing fast.

Two Egyptians on the posts at the bridge found themselves in the middle of a flurry of Herring Gulls.

It looks as if the usual pair of Canada Geese have started nesting on the raft on the Long Water. The goslings always have to be caught and extracted, since the plastic fence prevents them from leaving.

There's another Mute Swan nest site, this time by the landing stage by the Diana fountain. Both this ...

... and the one at the Lido restaurant were occupied by male swans holding on to the place for when their mates start to lay eggs, so neither is a definite nest yet.

I was told that the Mallard and her five ducklings were here too, but they were out of sight in the reeds.

The Mandarin drake was by the Lido restaurant again. He had a stretch.

Green alkanet is the bee food plant of choice at the moment. Here are a Common Carder bee ...

... a Honeybee ...

... and a Hairy-Footed Flower Bee browsing on the flowers.

A sun halo could be seen over the Serpentine in the afternoon. These rings, always at 22° to the sun, are caused by refraction through ice crystals in high-altitude clouds.