A few House Martins are now flying around the French embassy, though I have not yet seen any flying into the holes in the cornice where they make their nests. There is no shortage of mud for their building work. There are still large numbers of Swifts all over the lake and the surrounding area.

A visit to the Tawny Owls' tree surprisingly revealed four owlets, now almost adult brown but with a few lingering traces of grey fluff. This is not a good photograph, but I was grateful to get it at all so late in the season.

One of the young Grey Herons was again wandering around the Serpentine island while the other remained in the nest. The other nest visible from the shore had a sitting bird in it, while the other adult hung about underneath. Three male Mandarins are also mooching around together on the Long Water while their mates are nesting. The male Robins are more usefully employed; I saw two of them offering food to their mates.

A Pied Wagtail with one foot is often to be seen near the small boathouses. It runs around remarkably well despite its disability.

The Coal Tits who used to live in the leaf yard, and bred in it last year, have moved out. I sometimes meet them in other parts of Kensington Gardens -- I know they are the birds from the leaf yard, as they come to take pine nuts from my hand. Today a pair of them was in the shrubbery on the east side of the Long Water.