Early April wildlife walk in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens

At the beginning of April, when the sun was shining, my camera took me off for a long walk round the Serpentine and Long Water in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, where I saw a lot of great wildlife.

I began my walk at the Serpentine.  Here a Greylag goose is attempting to eat a soggy twig.  It didn't get very far with it and eventually gave up and went off elsewhere to look for a snack.

Just a little further on there was this handsome Red-crested Pochard drake who was giving me the evil red eye!

His female partner was snoozing on the bank at the edge of the lake.

I walked a little further around the lake and came across this very pretty female Gadwall.

She was accompanied by this rather handsome Gadwall drake.  The weather was sunny, but very windy, so the water was quite choppy.

Nearby was this rather strangely-coloured hybrid Mallard drake.  He has a light brown head rather than the usual iridescent green.

A female Mute swan was snoozing on her nest in the shade while, nearby, her mate was standing in the water and preening his feathers.

An Egyptian goose was standing on the decking near the cafe by the Lido.  I think he/she is half asleep in this photograph.

 It was a very blustery day and the wind caught it's feathers, suddenly giving it a very unkempt look.

As the wind blew more, this Egyptian goose was definitely going through a bad hair day!

The same happened to this rather stately-looking Great Crested Grebe.  One moment it was serenely gliding along the Serpentine.

The next minute, it looked a mess!

At the shallow edge of the Long Water near the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens, there were two Mandarin drakes that were brightly illuminated in the sunshine.

Near the bridge on the other side of the Long Water, at the edge of the bank and in the shade, a female Mute swan was standing near her nest.  I could see at least one egg in the nest.

Back at the Serpentine, near the little island, there was a group of Red-crested Pochards.  In this photo there are two drakes with fancy hairstyles and red beaks, plus a less colourful female.

Still in this area, a Mute Swan look an instant dislike to a Greylag goose and chased it round in circles until the goose gave up and flew off.

Here I was also fascinated to watch two members of the Greylag goose synchronised swimming team practising their manoeuvres!  They did very well.

Further along the Serpentine, near the wall at the edge of the cafe, a white Mallard was showing off his friendship with a normal-coloured Mallard!  Who said we were friends?

In the water at the other side of the cafe I saw a Greylag goose with unusual markings on it's face.

On that day there were vast amounts of squawking young Herring gulls causing mayhem by flying around in the air and floating around in the lake.

A Mute swan caught up in the fracas has gone into aggressive mode with it's feathers raised in the air.

 Here another Mute swan must be wondering what it has got itself into!

This young Herring gull appears to be both diving and flying at the same time.

Most of the fuss was caused by tourists, who were throwing pieces of bread to the gulls.  A piece can be seen at the right-hand side of this photograph.

Meanwhile, not far away from the noisy arena full of Herring gulls and seeming blissfully unaware of all the noise, a pair of young Mute swans were making loving overtures to one another.

As it was early April when I went on this walk, I can't possibly miss out on the few photographs of the lovely Spring blossom in the park.  Here is a photograph of some dark pink cherry blossom.

Another tree was overloaded with this amazing pale pinky-white cherry blossom.

Near the rose garden there was another tree covered in beautiful pink/rose apple blossom.

And lastly, the formal planting included these beautiful light and dark pink tulips.

It was a beautiful sunny Spring day in the park - perfect except for the wind that was causing havoc with the bird's feathers and, also, my hair!