Chiffchaffs

Chiffchaffs can be heard calling all over the park, and there are families at the east end of the Lido and here at the southwest corner of the bridge. I got a picture of a worn one on a holly twig ...

... and Ahmet Amerikali found a much neater one, probably one of this year's brood now in adult plumage.

One of the young Jays followed me here ...

... and the usual Robin made an appearance.

A young Robin came out on the path in the Rose Garden, evidently the very late hatched one we saw here a week ago.

A Wood Pigeon was eating the leaves of the plants in the herbaceous border of the Rose Garden.

A young one was sunbathing by the Serpentine Gallery ...

... where the male Little Owl was out in the big plane tree.

Ahmet found one of the young Hobbies flying over Buck Hill looking for grasshoppers, of which there are plenty in the long grass.

A Starling looked down haughtily from an umbrella at the Lido restaurant.

The female Coal Tit in the Dell peeped shyly out from the corkscrew hazel bush.

A Cormorant at the Serpentine island jumped on to a chain, just managed to keep its balance, and climbed on to a post.

The teenage Great Crested Grebe rested in the water nearby.

The youngest chicks on the Long Water were under the big poplar tree. One came into sight for a moment, here seen from across the lake.

The Little Grebe chicks were under the bridge waiting for a parent to bring a fish.

A Moorhen near the Lido had three quite young chicks. They hide their nests expertly, so you never know where a family is going to turn up.

An Egyptian Goose on the Serpentine had a brisk wash and flap.

A bright fresh Chicken of the Woods fungus has come out on a cherry tree near Peter Pan.

Blackbirds

A young Blackbird visited a blackberry patch on the Serpentine island.

An adult female was in the scrubby patch east of the Lido, where there are sloes on the blackthorn trees as well as insects and worms in the leaf litter.

Starlings at the Lido restaurant quarrelled over the ownership of a little plastic tub of mayonnaise.

I hadn't seen the familiar Robin at the southwest corner of the bridge since the start of the nesting season, but today it was back looking a bit worn but eager as ever for pine nuts.

A Jackdaw looked down expectantly from an oak near the Italian Garden.

There is a surprising lack of Rose-Ringed Parakeets eating the beans on the catalpa trees here. In previous years  at this time there is a host of them chewing at the pods. The only bird in the trees was a Great Tit.

A Blue Tit stared from a magnolia tree near the Rose Garden.

Both the male Coal Tit ...

... and the female were waiting in the big yew tree in the Dell.

The male Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was in the big plane tree.

The young Grey Herons are down from the fifth nest on the island. One of them was exploring the shore.

The Little Grebe chicks and a parent were directly under the bridge and could be seen looking down from the parapet.

An aggressive Coot chick chased two of them round a bridge pier.

One of the two Great Crested Grebe chicks from the island was fed by its mother. The other was by itself practising vital fishing skills.

The smallest Egyptian gosling was walking better than yesterday, and very active. It looks as if it had a minor injury but is recovering fast.

A Common Wasp in the Rose Garden explored cuphea flowers, which don't look like a good source of nectar ...

... and a Greenbottle fly wandered over a pompom dahlia, even less promising. The tight double flowers beloved by gardeners are useless to insects.

A large Chicken of the Woods fungus made an impressive show on a tree stump at the Dell restaurant terrace.

Keeping track of the families

The Little Grebes on the Long Water were in the reeds, with an unattractive collection of plastic bottles thrown in by slobbish visitors. It looks as if they have lost one chick and are down to three.

Two of the chicks had a wash and a preen while waiting for their parents to bring them fish.

The third followed a parent out on to the lake and was given a ruffe. The parent had to adjust the position of the fish carefully so that it was offered to the chick head first, necessary because of its spiny dorsal fin.

Ahmet Amerikali has been keeping his eye on the Little Grebes at Southwark Park, which are now down to one chick, but it's already becoming independent and has a good chance of survival. A parent caught a Common Darter dragonfly.

On the Serpentine a pair of Great Crested Grebes with two chicks appeared off the Lido. I don't know whether they were the ones from the Long Water or the ones that nested on the north side of the island, and it's quite possible that these two are actually the same. In either case they have lost one chick. The father caught a perch too large for the chicks and ate it himself.

Farther down the lake, the pair from the east end of the island saw one of the adults approaching alone and advanced menacingly. That was enough to send the intruder away. Grebes with chicks have a moral advantage and always win territorial contests over singles. However, if the intruder had brought its own two chicks nearer the other family there would have been a grand display of menacing gestures. She returned to the family and the parents had a little display to congratulate each other.

The long established Moorhen in the Dell regards the small waterfall as its personal property and didn't like a Feral Pigeon walking about on it.

The number of Cormorants is building up to its autumn peak. There was a row of them on the posts at the bridge.

All the posts at the island were occupied and one Cormorant perched on a boathouse roof.

The father of the four Egyptian goslings at Fisherman's Keep guarded them as they went over the bare ground to a reasonable patch of grass. The smallest gosling, second from right, was slightly weak and unsteady on its feet, though it was eating. Let's hope it's just a passing indisposition. I gave it some sunflower hearts to strengthen it.

A young Pied Wagtail hunted along the slimy edge by the Dell restaurant. There was a trail of bright turquoise across the pavement where some idiotic dog owner had let his pet into the toxic mess of cyanobacteria.

The Starlings were busy at the Lido restaurant.

The male Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery looked down from the big plane tree.

There was a pure white Feral Pigeon on the path by the Italian Garden. It seems to be a new one, as the white pigeon seen here before had got quite grubby.

There are always Jays in the area between the Flower Walk and Temple Gate, probably always the familiar pair and their two offspring which are now completely adult in appearance but much smarter than their worn parents.

The young male Chaffinch in the Flower Walk was waiting on a twig.

So was the smarter of the two Robins, in exactly the same place as I saw it yesterday.

The female Coal Tit appeared in the yew tree at the corner of the Dell and posed quite patiently on a twig. She knows she'll be fed after I've photographed her.

Hungry little birds

The colder weather and the autumn fall in the insect population have made the Great Tits, Blue Tits and Robins in the Flower Walk hungrier and they are storming out of the bushes for pine nuts.

Two Robins here are able to get quite close together without attacking each other. The first, quite worn from rearing young, is likely to be a female ...

... but the second is so fresh and immaculate that it may not be her mate, but rather her offspring hatched early in the year and now completely adult in appearance.

The Great Tits and Coal Tits that regularly come to be fed in the Dell have been joined by a pair of Blue Tits.

Rose hips ripening in the Rose Garden made a background for a Great Tit waiting for a pine nut. 

It was the turn of the female Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery to occupy the corner of the plane tree. Outside the breeding season they always seem to stay apart in different trees.

A young Wood Pigeon at the top of the Dell waterfall still hadn't grown an adult white collar, but its dark eyes were beginning to lighten, showing the dark spot on the lower front corner of the iris which makes them look as if they had oval pupils.

A young Pied Wagtail hunted in the slime on the edge at the Dell restaurant ...

... through which Pigeon Eater had come ashore, leaving green flecks on his legs.

The Grey Heron at the Triangle is getting very assertive and will perch on the back of the bench even when people are sitting there.

The two Great Crested Grebe chicks from the island came in close to the south shore to be fed. Hungry as they are, they are surprising clumsy at taking fish from their parents and several tries are usually needed.

The single chick which was chased away yesterday was back, as demanding as ever. It's now almost adult size.

The Little Grebe chicks are also growing fast.

A group of Mute Swans can generally be found on the edge of the Serpentine at the Triangle socialising and preening. They are the lower ranking birds on the lake and don't need to parade around asserting their status.

The Black Swan was showing off and had come on to the Long Water, here seen from the bridge. Later he was back on the Serpentine, probably after being chased off by 4HDW.

The four Egyptian goslings which had been wandering dangerously yesterday were now back with their parents.

The grass is growing back after the drought. Two Egyptians at the Dell had found a tasty patch.

Only a few insects were out in the Rose Garden border, mostly Common Carder bees which have been unusually numerous this year. A European Drone Fly browsed on an aster.