Young herons down from the nest

Two of the three latest young Grey Herons had come down from their nest for the first time. They stood uncomfortably on the wire baskets around the edge of the island.

The third was still in the nest.

A few minutes later one of the young herons had flown back up to the nest and the other was amusing itself by climbing in a clump of purple loosestrife.

They aren't independent yet and will be returning to the nest to be fed. Presumably this is the end of the very long nesting season, which started on 21 December last year and has produced 17 young birds from six nests, a record for the park.

Old nests remain useful. The Coots south of Peter Pan have long since finished bringing up their family, but both adults and young use the nest as a resting place.

Even the perennially unsuccessful nest on the post, which has now lost most of its twigs, still provides a useful perch.

The dominant Mute Swan continues his advance down the Serpentine. He had brought his teenagers beyond the Lido ...

... and was bullying another swan just for the hell of it.

An Egyptian Goose displayed its iridescent green secondary feathers.

One of the young Blackbirds behind the Queen's Temple was foraging under a lime tree.

A Great Spotted Woodpecker flew into the top of a tall lime by the leaf yard.

The older of the two familiar male Chaffinches in Kensington Gardens intercepted me by the Serpentine Gallery, again in a lime, and flew out several times to catch pine nuts in midair.

A threadbare Jay waited for a peanut in a dead tree by Peter Pan.

A visit to the clump of hemp agrimony in the Dell found a tiny Buff-Tailed Bumblebee, smaller than an ordinary Honeybee. They vary quite a lot in size.

There were also a handsome Batman Hoverfly ...

... a Common Drone Fly ...

... and a Greenbottle.

A Willow Emerald Damselfly pereched on the railings. Oddly, that's the best place to find one, as they like the warmth of the iron on a sunny day.

Tom was at Rainham Marshes and sent a fine but sad picture of a Reed Warbler feeding an enormous young Cuckoo that has been wished on the nest by its parasitic parents. Much as I love birds, I can't help finding Cuckoos horrible.

Another pigeon killer at the Albert Hall

Again, the wild area behind the Queen's Temple was the best place to find small birds, though it was hard to get reasonable pictures in the dense leaves. A female Blackcap was ticking loudly at an intruder.

The young Chiffchaff was visible again ...

... and so was one of the two young Blackbirds.

A Jackdaw was expecting a peanut.

At Mount Gate ...

... and in the Flower Walk Robins were waiting for pine nuts.

The Herring Gull pair at the Dell restaurant are definitely making a claim for Pigeon Eater's place on the roof. They fled when Mrs Pigeon Eater landed, pursued by the hungry young one which chased her all over the roof.

When she lost patience and flew away they returned to the same spot.

There's another pigeon killer, this time not in the park but nearby at the Albert Hall. The security guards saw it kill this feral Pigeon, and I arrived when it was feeding.

The three Great Crested Grebe nests were all in good order. The male was taking his turn on the nest under the willow by the bridge, and his mate visited him.

A Grey Heron fishing a few feet away was not a threat, as the nest is in a place it can't reach.

Jon sent a pleasing video of a Little Grebe at Clissold Park in Hackney with three chicks. Two of them were chasing a parent around.

I've only known Little Grebes to breed once in Kensington Gardens. The ravenous Herring Gulls took all the chicks in a couple of days. Little Grebes are only infrequent visitors to the park anyway, which is a pity.

The Egyptian Goose on the Serpentine with one remaining gosling had a fit of vagueness and went on to the grass without making sure it was following her. The gosling came up from the shore looking for her, and she suddenly realised what she'd done and came back.

This is the almost white Greylag Goose that is slightly over normal size and probably has a bit of domestic goose in its ancestry. Domestic geese are Greylags bred for size, so it's not actually a hybrid. There are also two normal sized off-white Greylags on the lake which are probably leucistic wild birds.

A pair of Common Darter dragonflies at Peter Pan were in tandem, flying around together while the female deposited eggs on the algae. This is normal behaviour for the species. The male keeps other males away, and at the same time four eyes are better than two at spotting predators.

A male Willow Emerald damselfly perched on the railings.

The busy patch of hemp agrimony in the Dell had an Ornate-Tailed Digger Wasp, Cerceris rybyensis ...

... and a Speckled Wood butterfly.

A Common Wasp was strangely busy on the railings. It looked as if it had thought the iron was wood and was trying to scrape some off to make papier mâché for its nest. But I really don't know what it was doing.

Behind the Queen's Temple

Few small birds were showing in the usual spots, apart from a young Blackbird near the Italian Garden which didn't turn round before some tourists blundered past and scared it away.

So I went to the wild patch behind the Queen's Temple, which is usually a good place, and there were plenty of birds, including juveniles. There were two young Blackbirds ...

... and a young Song Thrush foraging on the grass.

A young Chiffchaff was jumping around the branches ...

... and there was a glimpse of a parent in the next tree.

A Jay looked down expectantly.

Part of the lawn east of the Dell always floods after rain. A Carrion Crow was picking small insects or larvae out of the muddy water.

This pair of Herring Gulls is often seen on the Dell restaurant roof. They don't seem to be deterred by Pigeon Eater chasing them off again and again.

The single cygnet was on the lake below, taking no notice of a Canada Goose flapping at it.

One of the blond Egyptians had a vigorous wash and a flap. He has grey primary feathers and tail rather than the usual dark brown.

The Egyptian mother near the Lido is still clinging to her last gosling.

The Tufted Duck on the Long Water has four remaining ducklings, and they're growing well and pretty much out of danger.

But predictably, disaster has struck the Coots' nest by the bridge. All the eggs are gone. This place is out of the reach of foxes. Could it have been an attack by a very determined Herring Gull?

There was a good selection of insects over the water by Peter Pan. Black-Tailed Skimmer dragonflies were mating on of floating twig ...

... and so were Common Blue damselflies, light enough to stand directly on the algae.

An Emperor dragonfly zoomed back and forth.

There was also a momentary glimpse of a Darter, but not for long enough either to photograph it or to determine its species.

A Willow Emerald damselfly rested on a leaf in the Dell.

In the Rose Garden, a Honeybee browsed on a gazania ...

... and another was busy on a bidens.

The unpredictable variety of cultivated flowers in the herbaceous borders doesn't seem to trouble the bees at all. They always find something they like.

Later: A brief clip from Jon showing the little Mandarin, now safely escorted down from the Round Pond to the Long Water by its mother. Thanks to its tough upbringing, it's the only one that dares to go through the gang of Mute cygnets while its mother and two siblings hang back.

Little owlet sheltering from the wind

It was quite a windy day, but one of the Little owlets in Hyde Park had come out and was sheltering in the broken top of the horse chestnut tree. This is the one I think is female.

A Robin the the Flower Walk perched expectantly on the railings.

On of the three young Grey Herons on the Serpentine island climbed up the hawthorn tree to a sibling on the nest.

This one on the small waterfall in the Dell is getting its adult black and white face. It will have been hatched last year.

A young Lesser Black-Backed Gull by the Dell restaurant, presumably Pigeon Eater's, was keening pitifully ...

... but its parents ignored it. It's quite old enough to feed itself.

The Great Crested Grebe on the nest under the Dell restaurant balcony had a good view of the performance.

All was quiet at the nest at the island.

The grebe in the nest under the willow sat peacefully on the eggs in the nest under the willow by the bridge while its mate preened in the water.

Later it got up to turn the eggs.

A Coot by the nest at the bridge glared at a Lesser Black-Backed Gull on a post but there was nothing it could do to shift it.

A pair of Egyptian Geese near the boat hire platform decided for no visible reason to come ashore yelling and chase the others.

The geese that came to the Serpentine to moult are doing practice flights over the lake to test their new wing feathers before they leave.

The Mute Swan guarded her single cygnet.

The Tufted Duck family reappeared on the Long Water. They were diving like fury and impossible to count, but in this picture there are four young ones visible with their mother.

I had hoped to see the little Mandarin in its new home, but the Mandarins that came to the edge at the Vista were the other pair. The drake at the back is still regrowing his wings after moulting.

A Common Banded Hoverfly rested on an oak leaf at the back of the Queen's Temple.

The clumps of catmint in the Rose Garden are particularly attractive to Common Carder bees.