No sign of the Hobbies today. I thought for a moment I heard one, but it was a Sparrowhawk, which has a similar but slower call. The Hobbies will be off to Africa soon. A bird in Germany that was fitted with a tiny radio transmitter was tracked as far south as Zimbabwe.

There were two male Mandarins on the Long Water, one of them now in his full finery.

There were also two newly arrived Shovellers, two males and a female, but they stayed under a tree and would not come out for a picture.

The Olympic site is now largely open again. The removal of the fence has not affected its popularity with Canada and Greylag Geese, which appreciate the expensive sports-grade turf that was laid on the site. They were accompanied by a lot of Black-Headed Gulls, I suppose looking for insects and other small invertebrates disturbed by the geese.

One of the seven young Mute Swans strayed into the territory of the swans farther down the Serpentine. Approached menacingly by a male adult, it raised its wings in a half-hearted threat gesture.

But when the adult bore down on the youngster, it decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and fled.