Small birds coming out again

The small birds stayed in the shade of the bushes during the hot spell but are now gradually emerging, and are still interested in taking pine nuts although there are plenty of insects. A Blue Tit ate one on a twig at the southwest corner of the bridge.

A family of Long-Tailed Tits were busy in a yew tree near the Buck Hill shelter.

A Robin in the Flower Walk which I haven't seen for months came out and collected two pine nuts from my hand.

Another was sunbathing behind the railings near the Italian Garden.

The Little Owls at the Serpentine Gallery weren't showing well, but there was an obstructed view of the male adult in the plane tree ...

... and later of the female owlet in the same tree.

There are now two young Jays chasing a parent here. They got through a remarkable amount of peanuts while I was looking for owls.

A young Carrion Crow at Mount Gate quickly opened a peanut after I had cracked the shell. They won't need help soon.

Two young Pied Wagtails pestered their father on the shore by the Dell restaurant. This isn't a tidy video as the three of them were dashing all over the place.

There are young Grey Herons all round the Serpentine. It's hard to distinguish the older ones from this year's broods with those from last year. I think that once they have their teenage plumage they keep it till the following autumn and only then get the black and white face of an adult. This one was fishing from one of the baskets of water plants at the Triangle.

Two others were fussing above the east nest.

When I got round to the side where the nest could be seen it was clear why: the chicks have reached the stage where they climb out of the nest and start exploring the branches.

A young Herring Gull took it easy of the edge of the lake by the Triangle.

The Great Crested Grebe nesting under the Dell restaurant balcony was turning the eggs. I could only see two but Sato managed to see four here.

When I filmed the Moorhens yesterday I could only see one chick. But Moorhens are very good at hiding, and today a second chick swam into view. Later: Duncan Campbell saw a third this evening.

The Coot chicks in the northeast fountain pool in the Italian Garden were dodging around their nest in the iris clump.

A Red Admiral butterfly in a holly tree near the Italian Garden couldn't decide whether to close its wings for concealment or open them to soak up the sunshine.

Three Pied Wagtails

Three Pied Wagtails were hunting along the edge of the Serpentine at Fisherman's Keep, the familiar old male ...

... another male ...

... and a young one, still in pale juvenile colours but well able to hunt for itself, which was having a wash.

The male Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was in the same place as yesterday in the lime tree ...

... but the female owlet had moved to the plane tree. Those were the only ones I could see.

As usual, the Jays turned up for their issue of peanuts.

A parakeet feeder beside the Long Water turned his back on his basket of food, and a Feral Pigeon saw its chance.

The Great Crested Grebe nesting opposite Peter Pan was visited by a Wood Pigeon which had come down for a drink.

The three young Grey Herons at the east end of the island were milling around in the nest, but I haven't yet seen one climb out and start exploring.

The heron in the Italian Garden was fishing by a clump of purple loosestrife. This was planted deliberately for its ornamental value but it has now seeded itself all over the place. In the United States it's considered an invasive weed and attempts are made to exterminate it.

The Egyptian pair were at the edge of a pool. The male has now completely recovered and is no longer limping, and he jumped agilely on to the kerb.

A pair of Moorhens at the Peter Pan waterfront have just one chick, which they were feeding on a fallen tree.

A closer look at the chick. They are hatched in the same colours as adults, but later turn a drab brown for several months.

The Mute Swan 4DVZ took her cygnets on a begging expedition along the edge of the Dell restaurant terrace.

The teenage Mandarins were both at the Vista but wouldn't come together for a photograph. This is the female.

The Pochard and her teenager could be seen on the far side of the lake from Peter Pan.

A female Emperor dragonfly laying eggs on a patch of algae under the Italian Garden was buzzed by an inquisitive male Common Blue Damselfly.

Black-Tailed Skimmers mated on a dead hawthorn at the northwest corner of the bridge. They lay eggs in flight skimming over the water to deposit them, hence the name.

Both Little owlets on view

The male Little owlet at the Serpentine Gallery, not seen for several days, reappeared in the lime tree some distance from the nest tree where the parents often go to get away from the pestering of their young.

Its father was there too, so he hadn't managed to get away from them.

When I went back later the female owlet had joined them in the tree. This picture shows how an owl's foot has an outer front toe which can be angled forward for running on the ground and backward for grasping a branch or catching prey with two toes forward and two back.

The daily owl searches are now interrupted not only by the local Great Tits but by two Jays constantly demanding peanuts.

Today there was also a Song Thrush foraging under the trees.

The young Carrion Crows are learning to open peanuts themselves instead of expecting their parents to do it for them. I am giving them ones with the shell already cracked to make it easier for them.

The solitary tatty Black-Headed Gull on the Serpentine still hasn't linked up with its companions. There are only a few here yet, and most of them are on the Round Pond.

The collapse of another branch from the weeping willow by the bridge hasn't affected its suitability as a fishing place for Grey Herons and a nest site for Coots. The fallen branches are still attached to the trunk by a bridge of sapwood and bark, so they stay alive as the tree subsides bit by bit into the lake. All fallen trees stay in the lake: the park people would probably like to tidy them up but the health 'n' safety regulations about such a job are now so crazily onerous that they can't afford to.

A Cormorant fishing in a pool in the Italian Garden took a break for a wash ...

... and dried itself on the kerb.

The Coot nesting on the raft at the Traingle was again standing over the eggs with its wings down as if they were hatching, but as far as I could see nothing was happening.

The Great Crested Grebes at the west end of the island seem to have got right into one of the wire baskets, which must be broken as they are supposed to be completely enclosed. It's an excellent place for a nest, protected on all sides. Behind the grebe on the right you can see the Moorhen which is also nesting here.

The grebe nesting under the Dell restaurant balcony and a curious Mute Swan looked askance at each other.

The hybrid cygnet has not been seen since yesterday evening, and it seems increasingly likely that it has died. No one knows what happened.

The three Mute cygnets were with their mother 4DVZ on the shore east of the Lido. There is news of the fourth cygnet, which is alive at the Swan Sanctuary but still on a drip. Jenna thinks it may not have been attacked but may have botulism. The recent hot weather has caused the Clostridium botulinum bacterium to flourish in the lake. Waterfowl are fairly tolerant of it, but two Mallards have been affected by paralysis. One of them is being looked after by Jenna and is now able to stand.

Botulism is far more dangerous to humans and the Loch Maree disaster of 1922 is still remembered, when eight people at a Scottish hotel died of poisoning caused by duck paste in their picnic sandwiches. The bacterium produces spores which survive being boiled, and the only way to be sure of killing the spores is to pressure-cook the food raising the temperature to 121°C.

Tufted Ducks sometimes manage to breed successfully despite the many dangers in the park. This one with three ducklings appeared on the Long Water under the parapet of the Italian Garden.

The Mandarin teenagers were together under a tree at the Vista. Already one of them has a pink beak, showing that it's a drake.

Yesterday I think I saw the single young Pochard on the far side of the lake, but it looks much like an adult female now so it's hard to be sure from a distance.

A Comma butterfly drank nectar from sea lavender flowers in the Rose Garden.

A Red Admiral rested on the path by the Italian Garden, giving a view of its face which is hard for a human to read as a face at all. It is one of the butterflies that have only four functioning legs. The front pair, as reduced and useless as the forelegs of a tyrannosaurus, can be seen tucked up on either side of its head.

No shortage of Little Owls

Three of the Little Owls could be seen at the Serpentine Gallery: the male in the plane tree ...

... the female on her favourite lime branch ...

... and the female owlet in the chestnut.

When I came back in the late afternoon she flew across to the plane tree to pester her father. She was getting hungry, but couldn't be fed till sunset when the people and dogs went away and her parents could hunt on the ground.

Over towards the Queen's Temple, a Carrion Crow on a stump spotted me and came charging over for a peanut ...

... but the rest of the family were busy on an ants' nest.

A family of Long-Tailed Tits in the Flower Walk were dividing their attention between their usual favourite of a hawthorn, which seems to attract a lot of insects ...

... and a horse chestnut full of Leaf Miner Moth caterpillars, as you can see from the damage to the leaves.

A Song Thrush searched for worms in the fallen leaves below.

A young Robin looked around inquisitively from a branch.

The male Robin at Mount Gate came out several times for pine nuts.

Behind it on the hypericum bush was a Comma butterfly. Even with its wings folded the complicated outline makes it look interesting. It is the only member of the aptly named Polygonia genus native to Britain.

The Grey Heron in the Italian Garden was almost out of its depth in a pool.

A Pied Wagtail hunted in the wind-blown debris on the edge of the lake by the Dell restaurant.

The Great Crested Grebe nesting under the balcony was inspected by one of the Mute cygnets, which kept to a repectful distance and had probably been attacked already for going too close.

The Coot nesting on the raft at the Triangle was turning the eggs.

The posts in the Long Water which held the ill-fated tern raft are now regularly occupied by Gadwalls.

A bindweed flower by the Italian Garden attracted a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee and four smaller insects, Later: See Jim's comment below.