The number of Swifts in the park continues to increase. There were about 200 over the lake in the early afternoon, some high up and others low over the water, with a few Swallows and House Martins. The attraction may be that there are clouds of midges for them to eat.

The number of Grey Herons is also steadily going up. Today Stephen saw a woman feeding 13 of them near the Dell restaurant. When the young heron came down from the nest yesterday, I wondered whether this clumsy juvenile would be able to get back into the nest, a flight requiring a steep approach through branches. But the answer is yes, because today they were both in the nest again.

The newer nest at the eastern end of the island is an on-off affair. Sometimes both birds are busy in it, at others it is deserted.

There has been no sign of the Red Crested Pochard ducklings, though a pair of adults were present by themselves. I fear that the gulls have got them all.

The Pied Flycatcher is still to be seen hunting over the top end of the Long Water.

At the far end of the Serpentine, where the water flows out into the Dell, here are a Robin and a Goldcrest bathing in the shallows at the top of the waterfall.