Birds in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens

On a Friday afternoon towards the end of February the sun was shining, for a change, so my camera decided to drag me out for a walk round the lake in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.

It was a lovely day and the first birds that I came across on the path round the Serpentine were lots of pigeons and geese waiting to be fed unsuitable food by a tourist.  Amongst them was this very pretty starling.  In the photo below it is marching along the gravel path.

Here it is staring at the commotion that is going on around it - which was much too boring for a photograph.  I think its feathers are really amazing - especially on such a small bird.

There were lots of black-headed gulls in and around the lake.  Some of them were beginning to get their breeding plumage with their heads turning dark brown.

This one still has a whitish head.

A couple of Greylag geese were having a conversation in the Diana Fountain.  One of them is also enjoying having its feet in the cool water.

On the Serpentine there was an angry mute swan swimming at speed up and down the lake and attacking other swans.

The aggressive swan can just be seen behind the swan with its wings raised, ready to take flight and avoid being pecked on the back-side.  The pair frightened off a coot, which can be seen swimming away at speed.

For a couple of mute swans, love was in the air.  If they were hoping for a private moment, it wasn't going to happen as they were joined by two on-lookers.

Further round the lake I came across a magpie flitting about in a patch of daffodils and looking for food under the dead leaves.

It has got a very interesting face.

I found two strange-looking mallards on the Long Water.  They had brown bodies with white bibs, instead of the usual white bodies.  The sunlight turned the colour on their heads into this amazing iridescent green.

Swimming near them were two mallard drakes with the normal colouring.

This is a large photograph of one of the hybrid mallard drakes.  He is rather handsome!

At the end of the Long Water, on one of the ponds in the Italian Garden, was a female Gadwall.  She looked very pretty in the sunlight.

Her partner, the Gadwall drake, was nearby.  He is a rather handsome duck.

Here the two of them are swimming along together.

On the other side of the Serpentine, near the stored pedalos, a white mallard drake and a normal colour female were lurking around in the still water.

In this photo the drake is trying to hide under the pedalo.  It will never work - especially against the dark water!