A gory day

A Carrion Crow killed and started eating a young Wood Pigeon by the Queen's Temple. A crow will kill and eat anything it can get, but I think this bird must have been injured and vulnerable before the crow struck.

An already bloody day was made worse by finding Pigeon Eater in the act of killing a Feral Pigeon in his usual place at the Dell restaurant.

He carried it off into the lake. His youngster, who had been leaving him in peace for the last two days, couldn't resist coming over and whining for a share.

But no share was available. After Pigeon Eater had eaten his fill and gone off a young Herring Gull seized the carcass and took it away while the young bird followed unhappily.

The dominant Black-Headed Gull was also cross, as a couple of Canada Geese had landed on his platform and gone to sleep.

A Grey Heron found a fishing station on some reeds in the Long Water which had been trampled flat by the Mute Swan family ...

... who were playing under the bridge.

A pair of Gadwalls ate algae on the edge of the Serpentine. Since a fair number of them settled on the lake they have become much less shy, and you can go right up to them to take a picture.

There were two Great Crested Grebe chicks on the west side of the island.

The family on the east side have reached the stage where one parent looks after each chick.

A Moorhen with two chicks was feeding at the Vista, under a bush where they probably nested. Their nests are always well hidden.

Theodore photographed a Spotted Flycatcher at Peter Pan, a real find as it's a very infrequent visitor to the park ...

... and also a Willow Warbler, of which there are only ever a few here.

There was a Chiffchaff in a hawthorn near the Buck Hill sheleter, where they are often seen ...

... and a Wren.

This ornate creature on the railings at Peter Pan is the caterpillar of a Vapourer moth, Ogyia antiqua. It climbed to the top, probably thinking it was on a tree and there would be some leaves to eat, but was disappointed and came down again.

The Rose Garden yielded a couple of routine but gaudy pictures, a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee on an Indian Blanket flower ...

... and a Common Carder on a Michaelmas daisy.

Autumn sets in

Cooler weather and some heavy showers kept people out of the park, and the small birds were both ready to show themselves and quite hungry. A Blue Tit in the Flower Walk was poised to fly down for a pine nut ...

... and the usual female Chaffinch came out on the railings.

A Coal Tit perched on a catalpa bean in the Rose Garden. Encouraged by the other birds, it came to my hand twice.

A Robin posed in a background of rose hips.

Long-Tailed Tits were at work inside a weeping willow by the Serpentine. One paused for a moment on top of the tree.

Starlings went in and out of the plants on the edge of the Diana fountain. It wasn't clear what the interest was until one emerged with a large caterpillar.

A Carrion Crow waited on an umbrella at the Lido restaurant.

At the island, a young Grey Heron was having a fight with a Black-Headed Gull and grabbed it, though it only got a tuft of feathers.

Pigeon Eater's offspring was on the lake under its father on the roof, but mercifully it had shut up at last and he wasn't bothered.

A Great Crested Grebe arrived at the east end of the island with a fish, and one of the chicks hurried over to grab it.

The grebe with a single large chick was at the east end of the Serpentine.

The lone Coot chick near the Lido was being fed on algae.

This is the male Egyptian Goose in the Italian Garden whose mate is nesting. He was passing the time by having a shower in the marble fountain.

A Speckled Wood butterfly moved about the hemp agrimony clump in the Dell, drinking nectar from the little florets.

They may be very common and not brightly coloured, but they have a particularly beautiful pattern.

A bee in the same clump seemed too deep a ginger to be a Common Carder, as most of these are quite faded at the moment. But on closer inspection that's what it was. Its abdomen is too stripy for a Tree Bumblebee and it has no trace of a white tail.

At last I managed to get a picture of a male Migrant Hawker dragonfly perched on a twig near the Italian Garden.

There was a male Willow Emerald damselfly on a lower twig, and although we've had plenty of pictures it was impossible not to photograph this living jewel.

The last day of summer

On the last day of summer it was still warm and the park was thronged with Sunday crowds. A Starling on the Dell restaurant terrace blended its chatter with the human babble.

This Robin on the steps at the southwest corner of the bridge is now a regular customer and took two pine nuts from my hand.

It seems that Pigeon Eater's attack on his whining offspring yesterday has had the desired effect. He was standing peacefully in his usual place ...

... and his mate was on the Dell restaurant roof, and there was no sight or sound of the young one.

The last brood of young Grey Herons came down from their nest at least a fortnight ago, but they still return to it from time to time.

A young heron walked along the edge of the Dell stream, alert for a fish in the water or a rat lurking under the Chilean rhubarb. This plant is always chewed to rags by some caterpillar in the Dell, but the clump by the Italian Garden is untouched.

The Great Crested Grebe chicks from the east end of the island were with their mother while their father went on a fishing expedition ...

... and the two on the south side of the Serpentine were playing with each other as they waited.

Ahmet Amerikali got a good picture of the one at the east end of the lake being fed.

A Cormorant had a violent wash at Peter Pan ...

... and an Egyptian Goose passed by low over the water.

The male in the Italian Garden was preening on the parapet while his mate was on her nest.

The lone gosling on the Serpentine is now as big as a Mallard and beginning to get proper feathers.

The Gadwall drakes are looking soberly smart again after coming out of eclipse. One preened with its mate on the edge of the lake.

There are still some Willow Emerald damselflies ...

... and also plenty of Migrant Hawker dragonflies and I still haven't managed to get a decent picture of one.

A Common Carder bee made good use of its long proboscis on a stonecrop flower head in the Rose Garden.

This Hornet Hoverfly in a patch of Indian Blanket flowers is the commonly seen species Volucella zonaria ...

... but I think a less bright one in the hemp agrimony in the Dell is its relative V. inanis.

Monarch of the Dell

A Wren struck a grand pose on a rock in the Dell.

The female Chaffinch in the Flower Walk was looking expectant. Unlike her mate and the young male which may be their offsprings, she hasn't learnt to dart out to catch pine nutes in midair and has to be fed on the ground.

A Robin across the path was looking worn after raising young. The second shot is of the equally tatty regular customer at Mount Gate. They will get new feathers in autumn.

A flock of Long-Tailed Tits flew over the south end of the bridge and proceeded up the Long Water.

The Reed Warblers are still in the reed bed under the Italian Garden. Thanks to Ahmet Amerikali for this picture.

They are in exactly the same place as the Sedge Warblers, but there doesn't seem to be any conflict. There's plenty of room and plenty of insects in the reeds.

Also from Ahmet, a shot of a Wood Pigeon parent ignoring the demands of a young one.

There was another Feral Pigeon with feathered feet in the Rose Garden.

You never know where a Jackdaw will turn up to claim a peanut. This one was by the boathouses.

They are much more mobile than Jays and Magpies, which usually turn up in the same place day after day.

Pigeon Eater lost patience with his whining youngster and chased it away.

The Great Crested Grebes from an unseen nest on the Serpentine island were at the south shore. One parent caught five fish in ten minutes to feed two ever hungry chicks.

The chicks from the east end of the island were quiet for once.

The single chick at the east end of the lake looked out from its mother's back.

A Moorhen by the boathouses was with two chicks, now large enough to find their own food.

The single Mute cygnet and its mother rested on the path, obliging visitors to walk round them. I think swans block the path deliberately to establish dominance over humans. They sometimes make it impossible to walk along the narrow section at the Triangle, and you simply have to go round on the other path.

A Crab Spider, Misumena varia, waited on an Indian Blanket flower in the Rose Garden. They don't spin webs, and simply wait to catch an unwary insect. They can change colour to match the flowers they prefer to stand on, but it takes three weeks and this one seems to not to have bothered with trying to match the gaudy flower.

A Hornet Hoverfly would have matched quite well, but this one was on the hemp agrimony in the Dell.

Two Greenbottles filed across a patch of dead grass.

Tom was at Rainham Marshes, where he found a Brown Hairstreak butterfly. This is a female, with a much brighter orange patch than the male I found in the Dell on the 12th.