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.

Migrant Hawker dragonfly

The Little Grebe family had returned to the reeds on the east side of the Long Water.

The three newest Great Crested Grebe chicks on the Long Water are now large enough to come out from the shelter of the poplar tree on to the open water.

The single chick on the Serpentine was begging so insistently that even its loving mother lost patience and gave it the push.

The teenage grebe was resting on the swan nesting raft again. It was content to share it with the Mute Swan 4GIX, but when 4FUF climbed aboard as well that was too much, and it left hastily.

One of the cygnets on the Serpentine was preening a wing. It doesn't have any flight feathers yet. Swans' wings develop very late in their growth.

Two of the four Egyptian goslings at Fisherman's Keep had wandered off and were begging for crumbs from the passers by. They ignored their mother calling them back, and in the end she had to come and round them up.

The teenage Mandarin was also begging at the Vista, and people were making quite a fuss of him.

A young Grey Wagtail was hunting along the edge of the Lido restaurant terrace.

A Starling whistled and nattered on a chair while waiting for a chance to raid a table.

There was a Wood Pigeon in an olive tree at the end of the terrace. It does have some olives, but they look too hard and unripe even for a Wood Pigeon to eat.

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

The Jay family were here too. One of the young ones followed me to the Albert Memorial.

The familiar Robin was waiting on the railings in the Flower Walk.

A Blue Tit searched for insects on a branch at the northwest corner of the bridge.

As usual, the Great Tits in the corkscrew hazel in the Dell ...

... were followed by the Coal Tits. This is the female of the pair, with little white flecks above her eyes.

A male Migrant Hawker dragonfly rested on a grass seed head by the Italian Garden. It's the first I've seen here this year.

There are still some Willow Emerald damselflies. These were on the railings at the southeast corner of the bridge.

Grebe out of the water

The Little Grebes on the Long Water were catching small fish at a prodigious rate to feed their four chicks.

A Great Crested Grebe farther up the lake caught a pike.

It was politely offered to a chick but was obviously too large, so the parent ate it.

The number of pike on the lake is certainly going up, and they are now often seen among the prey of the grebes and Cormorants. Ahmet Amerikali took this picture yesterday.

On the posts at the bridge a Cormorant vainly tried to dry its wings during a shower.

The single grebe chick on the Serpentine stretched its wings. The flight feathers are just beginning to come out.

You seldom see a Great Crested Grebe out of the water, but the teenager on the Serpentine had climbed on to the swans' nesting raft to preen.

The young Mandarin drake was preening at the Vista.

A odd combination on the fallen poplar at the Vista: a Cormorant, a Pochard, a Tufted Duck, a young Grey Wagtail and a Yellow-Bellied Slider terrapin.

The first Shovellers have returned. Three could be seen on the Long Water.

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

Rain softened the hard ground enough for the Starlings to hunt for wireworms.

When the Great Tits come out in the corkscrew hazel bush in the Dell ...

... the Coal Tits notice and turn up to take pine nuts from the railings.

A Blue Tit waited in the Flower Walk.

Three more pictures from Ahmet: a Willow Warbler ...

... and a young Chiffchaff both in the scrub at the east end of the Lido ...

... and a Goldcrest in a holly tree at the southwest corner of the bridge.