Proper English weather at last

It was a dull day with occasional drizzle and there was little to see.

The two Great Crested Grebe chicks on the Serpentine are now actively learning to fish, diving after their parents and having little expeditions on their own. One scared a Coot by surfacing under it.

The new family on the Long Water were still under the poplar tree. They are hard to spot at that distance, and the way to find them  is to wait till a parent diving under the bridge ...

... catches a fish and takes it up to the chicks. Here one of them is still riding on its mother's back.

The Little Grebes were nearer under the willow by the bridge. Two of the chicks came out when a parent arrived with a fish.

The teenage Little Grebe appeared on the Serpentine again, diving busily. It did its characteristic jump and shrug mentioned by Jame Austen in Persuasion. Describing Louisa recovering after her accident, she wrote, 'If one happens only to shut the door a little hard, she starts and wriggles like a young dab-chick in the water.'

The Moorhen chick at the island went for a stroll with a parent.

A Moorhen on the ruined raft at the Triangle came recklessly close to a Mute Swan.

The Egyptian goslings at Fisherman's Keep were in a cosy huddle.

A lot of Egyptians had come out from the lake and were browsing on the lawn east of the Dell, and there were four in the Rose Garden. The pair that live by the Huntress fountain here are usually very territorial, but peace reigned for a moment. It's going to take a while for the grass to recover.

A Cormorant made itself comfortable on the clump of grass in the wire basket at the island.

Another dried its wings on a post at the bridge in an interval between showers.

The Czech Black-Headed Gull was patrolling its territory at Fisherman's Keep.

In spite of the weather there were people on the terrace of the Lido restaurant, and the Starlings were waiting for their chance.

A very late young Robin in the Rose Garden caught a fly in a flower bed.

The male Coal Tit came out in the yew tree at the southeast corner of the Dell, lured by pine nuts on the railings.

A Jackdaw applied for a peanut on the shore by the island ...

... and a Jay waited on a fallen trunk by the Serpentine Gallery, but the Little Owls were staying in their hole.

It wasn't a day for seeing many insects, but the hardy Common Carder bees were at work on the pink stonecrop in the Rose Garden.

A crow's warning

The Little Grebe family had gone back to the reeds on the east side of the Long Water. A parent was feeding one of the chicks ...

... while the other three stayed at the edge.

A Great Crested Grebe chick on the Serpentine was persecuting its mother, but she was busy preening and ignored it for the time being. The chicks get all the fish they need, but that doesn't keep them quiet for long.

At least the single chick from the Dell restaurant was having a rest.

The chicks on the Long Water were hidden under the poplar tree, but I saw a parent going up the lake with a fish, and in the distance you could see a chick coming out of cover to take it.

A pair of Coots preened on the chain by the bridge. They have tried to build a nest here several times, but nothing has ever come of it.

In 2004 a pair of Great Crested Grebes did manage to nest on this chain, and even to raise five chicks. But they were lucky enough to do it in a spell of calm weather. If there are any waves a nest here gets washed away, and with the new boat people zooming around irresponsibly in powerboats and raising a huge wash there isn't a chance. The Coot nest on the chain on the Long Water stays in place because it's more sheltered there.

One of the two Mute cygnets on the Serpentine has been ill and weak in the past few days, and was nearly taken into care by the bird rescue group. But they decided it was better off left to recover by itself, and today both of the young ones were fine and active. We think it may have had a slight attack of botulism, but waterfowl have a high resistance to the toxin. The bacterium Clostridium botulinum produces it in anaerobic conditions in mud, and it is released by birds dabbling on the lake floor.

However, one of the Egyptian Geese in the Italian Garden has been looking droopy for a while, and the rescuers are keeping an eye on it. These birds have a health service that humans can only envy.

The water in the lake under the Italian Garden is absolutely septic and smelly, with dead algae and a heavy growth of blue-green cyanobacteria. Luckily the Egyptians stay in the pools, which are quite clean.

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

Both Peregrines were on the tower, but flew away before I could get round to them. I also missed the Hobbies.

A Jackdaw waited for a peanut on a block of new stone inserted into the parapet of the bridge during the recent repairs. How much more attractive tbe creamy Bath limestone is than the dead white Portland stone that began to be used in the mid-19th century. It weathers to a soft pale brown while Portland stone goes a cold grey.

'When the crow is silent, it is well. But when it speaks, so it shall be.'

— Irish proverb.

Starlings at the Dell restaurant leapt into the air to catch thrown crumbs. The restuarant staff absolutely hate people feeding them, but who can resist these lively birds?

This is the second Robin in the Flower Walk which is coming to my hand for pine nuts. It's much smarter than the tatty original one.

There were also several Blue Tits.

A Coal Tit appeared in the yew tree at the southeast corner of the Dell. This is the one with little white flecks above both eyes that I think is the female of the pair.

A Common Carder bee browsed on a lantana in the Rose Garden.

When I saw this grey bee on a patch of stonecrop I thought it must be an Ashy Mining Bee, but these appear in early summer and are over now. In fact it's a completely bleached Common Carder, seemingly quite old from the tattered condition of its wings.

These bees really do vary a lot in colour, through the pale brown of the bee in the first picture to the bright ginger of the one shown yesterday in an autumn crocus. Do they fade with time, or is it natural variation?

Young Hobbies out and about

The Hobbies that visit every year to breed have a favourite plane tree some way from their nest to which they lead their young as soon as they can fly. There's nothing special about this tree, it's just their habit.

One of the two young ones crossed the Long Water and circled over Buck Hill.

The male Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was in a very leafy spot in the big plane tree and there was no place from which I could get a good view of him.

Both Robins in the Flower Walk came out for pine nuts.

So did the familiar female Chaffinch.

This Blue Tit at the southwest corner of the bridge is also a regular customer.

There are now four Great Tits in the big yew in the Dell expecting their daily treat, but I didn't see either of the Coal Tits.

Pigeon Eater was in his usual place at the Dell restaurant. He took a break from hunting to preen. As he approaches the autumn moult he's not quite as smart as usual, and there is a broken feather on his right wing.

A Cormorant at the island had found the only comfortable place to rest on the wire baskets where a patch of grass has come up. The Grey Heron in the background likes to rest there too, and was hanging around enviously.

The four Little Grebe chicks on the Long Water could be seen on the edge of a patch of reeds. One was in front of the others waiting to intercept a parent bringing a fish ...

... but the parent dodged the pushy youngster and fed one of the others. They are careful to see that all the chicks get their share.

The three Great Crested Grebe chicks could be seen at a distance by the big poplar tree.

One of the two chicks from the east end of the Serpentine island poked around at the edge of the lake looking for aquatic larvae and other small water creatures. It's still being well fed by its parents but a little extra is always welcome.

An adult at the island caught a pike which looked too large to swallow. I don't know what happened afterwards because a gull swooped down and the grebe had to dive, still holding the pike, and it came up under the bushes.

Two Mute Swans, 4GIX and 4GIK, took over the ruined nesting raft and will no doubt wreck the flimsy structure even more. A teenage Moorhen got out of their way.

As I was photographing them some more swans charged down the lake.

The four Egyptian goslings at Fisherman's Keep are still young enough to enjoy going into a huddle. Their mother is keeping an eye on them and they are safe for now.

Autumn crocuses are out at the southwest corner of the bridge, and a Common Carder bee visited them.

New Great Crested Grebe chicks on the Long Water

Three more Great Crested Grebe chicks have unexpectedly turned up on the Long Water, under a big poplar tree on the east side. 

They were quite far away and I only noticed them because I saw a parent carrying a fish up the lake. Here two parents arrived simultaneously with fish and two of the chicks got fed.

Three of the Little Grebe chicks had moved out from the willow by the bridge, with one parent. Squeaks from under the willow showed that the fourth chick was there with the other parent.

Two of chicks came out on to the open water and tried to grab a fish. One shooed the other away, only for it to sneak round the back and get the fish.

The parents eat any fish too large for the chicks. This one had caught a ruffe, which it had to turn round before swallowing it head first because of the spint dorsal fin.

On the Serpentine, the two Great Crested Grebe chicks from the east end of the island were relentlessly chasing their father.

The single chick from the nest at the Dell restaurant is growing fast. The bare red spot on its forehead has almost disappeared as it begins to grow a little crest.

A Cormorant on the Long Water looked up at three Canada Geese flying overhead.

The three young Grey Herons in the fifth nest are still staying there, although they are climbing around nearby branches. I can't declare the end of the very long breeding season, which started last December, to the Heronries Census until they definitely leave, but if all goes well there will be 15 young fledged, two down from last year but still a good result.

A heron stood by a boathouse in a Guardsman's attitude.

Pigeon Eater was being pestered by a young gull, although this had already got something to eat. He quite gently escorted it off his patch.

The male Little Owl could be seen in the usual lime tree.

A Jay was waiting for its daily peanut near the Italian Garden.

Long-Tailed Tits were at work in the catalpa trees.

The Robin in the Flower Walk was getting impatient, although it only had to wait a few seconds for a pine nut.

A Wren foraged behind the railings of the Dell.

A Harlequin Ladybird climbed on the railings near the Italian Garden. The iron railings are oddly attractive to insects, often perched on by dragonflies and damselflies. Part of the attraction is that they get warm in the sunshine, but these railings were in the shade. The local Garden Spiders know that insects come hear and spin their webs between the spikes.