Peregrines reunited

Both the Peregrines were on the tower. I haven't seen them together since February and was thinking that the male's new mate had deserted him, as wilful female Peregrines often do. It's good to see them together, but a shame that the tower in the Cromwell Road where they would nest is completely covered in scaffolding, so they don't have a chance to breed this year.

A female Great Tit called nervously, disturbed by a Magpie in her tree.

On a sunny Saturday the park was very crowded, and the small birds were mostly lurking in the bushes. But here are two recent pictures by Ahmet Amerikali, of a female Blackcap at Peter Pan ...

... and a Reed Warbler in a tree east of the Lido.

With young Grey Herons from the first four nests all out, they are all over the park -- and there are still two active nests with unfledged young. A young bird fishing at the boathouse yawned. Even patient herons get bored sometimes.

The statue of William Jenner has to put up with a lot. First he was exiled from his original position in Trafalgar Square by the military lobby who said he wasn't appropriate, and now here he is covered in spider webs with a disrespectful Carrion Crow on his head.

A crow at the Round Pond was clearly exasperated by the incessant begging of its offspring.

The waves raised by a brisk wind deposit aquatic larvae on the edge of the pond, and a Pied Wagtail was trotting along picking them up, occasionally blown sideways by a gust.

The Mandarins were resting ...

... while the Mallards were charging round the edge.

The three Egyptian goslings have grown into handsome teenagers.

At the Vista, Duncan Campbell filmed a Mallard drake performing his jerky courtship display to a female, who wasn't in the least impressed by it.

When people start feeding the Canada Geese on the Serpentine they get mobbed. Luckily the ones in the park are much less aggressive than those in North America, which would charge you and knock you over.

A Comma butterfly at Mount Gate kept a firm grip on a leaf as it was blown about by the wind.

In the Rose Garden a Small White fed on a catmint flower ...

... and there was a Meadow Brown on a verbena.

The big Shasta daisies in garden are popular with bees. Most visitors are Honeybees, but the first two short clips show little bees of the Colletes genus, of which there are many similar-looking species. They are also known as 'Cellophane bees' or 'Polyester bees' because they make a plastic-like substance to line their underground nests.

Red-Veined Darters at the Round Pond

A Wren in a tree near the Henry Moore sculpture was hopping about furiously scolding a Magpie ...

... while one of its young took no notice of the kerfuffle and searched for insects in the brambles below.

The Robins here use the railings as a lookout post for insects on the path, which they then swoop down and grab.

The Carrion Crows in the Italian Garden like to drink and bathe in the marble fountain. It has been out of order for weeks and is completely dry, but they still have the habit of going there.

The male Peregrine was back on the barracks tower, alone as usual. He had caught a pigeon and was eating it some way back from the edge of the ledge, so that he could only be seen from a distance when he looked up from his meal.

I was taking a routine picture of Pigeon Eater on the roof of the Dell restaurant ...

... when he did a lightning swoop on a table and returned with a bit of fried fish.

The dominant Mute Swan on the Long Water had just chased some Canada Geese under the bridge and followed them out, and was being horrible to them as a firm hint not to come back.

A Red-Crested Pochard drake on the Long Water came over to the Vista hoping someone would feed him.

The Mallard ducklings on the Round Pond  are now growing their wing feathers.

The smallest Mandarin duckling was off by itself as usual, though I did see it with the family later.

I met David Element by the pond, looking for Red-Veined Darter dragonflies, of which he found no fewer than twelve. He sent this fine shot of one on a grass stem showing off its wings to advantage.

I got a more ordinary shot of one on the ground.

There were plenty of Red-Eyed Damselflies on the algae in the Italian Garden ponds.

Black-Tailed Skimmer dragonflies mated on the roof of a boathouse in a stiff breeze, with the male clinging firmly to a patch of moss to avoid being blown away.

Behind the Serpentine Lodge a Meadow Brown butterfly was feeding on a knapweed flower ...

... when it was rudely knocked off by a Honeybee.

Hoverflies were sunlit against the dark hedge of the lodge garden. I think this is a Common Drone Fly, Eristalis tenax, but the lighting is so extreme that it's hard to tell.

Three Grey Heron chicks

The new Grey Heron chicks in the east end of the island were standing up, and you can just see that there are three of them.

A Herring Gull ...

... and a Lesser Black-Back by the Round Pond were vying for the remains of a Feral Pigeon. You can see that not much is left, so it looks as if this is one of Pigeon Eater's leftovers snatched from the edge of the Serpentine.

Pigeon Eater was at his usual station washing his face, as he always does after a bloody breakfast.

A hungry young Carrion Crow by the bridge wouldn't let its parent have a moment's peace.

Crows are no respecters of royalty, or anyone else.

A Jackdaw waited patiently on a branch for me to finish photographing and give it a peanut.

Ahmet Amerikali got a good picture of a young Goldcrest in the Dell.

A young Starling looking for insects in a pot of stonecrop at the Lido restaurant eyed a Honeybee flying overhead.

The six new Coot chicks in the Italian Garden fountain were passed by three teenagers from the other family. One rteurned and gave a chick a bad-tempered peck.

The six Mute cygnets were on the Long Water with their mother. One of them flapped its tiny wings. Swans' wings develop slowly, and they can't fly till some time after they have grown to full size. This is just as well, as they are clumsy in the air and any juvenile exploration would probably end in a crash.

The smallest Mandarin duckling on the Round Pond had wandered off as usual and was standing on the edge while its mother hurried to catch up with it.

The Mallard family were taking it easy.

Duncan Campbell got a remarkable video. A Common Wasp scrapes off fragments of wood, mixes them with saliva, and rolls them into a ball which it will carry off to add to its nest. Their neatly made and durable papier-mâché nests can be a foot across or more.

A patch of Woolly Yarrow in the Rose Garden attracted a Colletes bee of unknown species, of which there are a lot all over the garden.

It was joined by a Batman Hoverfly.

Tom was at Abberton reservoir near Colchester, where he found two spectacular butterflies, a Purple Hairstreak ...

... and a Purple Emperor.

Yet more Grey Heron chicks

The Grey Herons in the nest at the east end of the Serpentine island have already bred this year and raised three chicks. Now they've nested again and have more. I could see two from the shore.

A young heron by the Lido picked a small insect off the water.

The usual male Chaffinch in Kensington Gardens presented himself in the fallen blossom under a chestnut tree.

A Jackdaw sidled up to apply for a peanut. They are always polite, unlike Carrion Crows.

A Rose-Ringed Parakeet picked up a fallen crabapple on the path near the Steiner bench.

A handsome white and grey Feral Pigeon fluffed himself up before strutting around in front of a female.

Pigeon Eater spotted a pigeon that wasn't paying attention, but it woke up in time and eluded his lunge.

A Pied Wagtail sprinted around in the parched grass beside the Round Pond.

It caught a small larva.

The six Mallard ducklings are already wise to the ways of the park, and when they see someone eating his lunch on a bench they come ashore and tout for a share.

The smallest Mandarin ducking is growing noticeably now, but it has a long way to go.

A Red-Crested Pochard drake, still in breeding plumage, rested at the Triangle.

I could see 25 Gadwalls from one viewpoint at the Vista, the most we've ever had in the park.

This is the white Greylag that doesn't have a mate. It's probably a sibling of the one with a normal grey mate, but you don't see them together.

Tinúviel sent this remarkable picture of a Great Crested Grebe chick carrying a smaller one on its back. I don't know where it was taken. Update: she thinks it was in Huesca in northeastern Spain.

I've seen young Moorhens helping to feed younger ones from their parents' second brood, but this is more puzzling. Moorhens don't spend much time feeding their chicks which soon begin to forage for themselves, so they can easily breed twice or even three times a year. Not so with grebes: it takes a pair of Great Crested Grebes more than three months to raise their young to the point where they can feed themselves, and during this time nesting is impossible. So here the mystery is not that an older chick is happy to carry a younger one -- I think that's a basic instinct -- but where the younger chick came from. The difference between the two looks like a month or six weeks. I can only suppose that it's from different parents, got lost, and was adopted.

A Honeybee fed on a snowberry flower on the east side of the Long Water.

A Lesser Stag Beetle crossed the path below.

A Small White butterfly perched on a knapweed flower at the back of the Lido.