Incubating crow

The finished Carrion Crows nests are very obvious atop the still bare trees. There are several breeding territories I cross on my way to work. Some of these seem to have used the same nest they built last year, others have built another one nearby, the older one still standing strong. If you are lucky you can get a glimpse of the incubating female's head or tail sticking out of the nest. The top shot, I took earlier today, shows that one of the campus pair have decorated their nest with white packaging material. Their nest, on a not very tall alder, is very visible.
Only female crows get brood patches during the nesting season: two bare and highly vascularised areas on the chest, which are in direct contact with the eggs and make incubation more efficient. These patches are covered with the feathers surrounding them, which the female fluffs open before sitting on the eggs. The male doesn't get brood patches, and doesn't incubate. During this time, the male feeds the female, and sometimes stands guard near the nest, as this poor photo shows. The female's tail sticking out of the nest on the left and the male sitting on the right. During the breeding period, the male is very protective of the nest area, and these days I see them mobbing Herring Gulls and Sparrowhawks that come near the nest.

Moorhen nest building

The Moorhens seem to have settled in the park, with a pair having secured the island as a territory. Next to the island there is a large fallen branch that has been used to nest before. One of the moorhens was tidying the nest, trying to bring branches sticking up into the nest structure.
 You can watch a short clip of her activities here:

Mistle thrush collecting nesting material

The resident pair of mistle thrushes rattled while flying to the lawns in the park. One of them fed on worms for a while taking little notice of me, but then it found a feather and seemed to have a change of heart, as it started to collect nest lining material enthusiastically, and then it flew to a large horse chestnut rapidly growing its leaves.

Nest building woodpigeons

On a walk in my local park, I came across two different Woodpigeons collecting nest material. This is likely to be the second brood of the season. I stopped to try and get some shots of the second one. The nest was in a large Horse Chestnut. The Woodpigeon would come to the ground, walk to the pile of sticks that had fallen from the nest, peck them until one suited him, and then fly up to the tree. Occasionally, the stick would come tumbling down a few seconds later. I wonder if they were in the early stages of nest building and the platform wasn't stable enough. Usually one of the individuals of the pair bring the nest material to the other, which is sitting on the nest, and this individual arranges the sticks.
 I had a long session while sitting at the base of the horse chestnut. Every couple of minutes or so, I would have a chance to take a shot or two of the woodpigeon choosing a stick or flying up. The woodpigeon continued its merry-go-round taking no notice of me.