The Tawny Owls are back in their usual place. After I had discovered a fresh owl pellet under the nest tree, Paul Turner went to look for them in this area, and discovered both adults on the beech tree immediately next to the nest tree. Here is the female owl, mildly annoyed by my arrival, giving me an unfathomable look with her big dark eyes.

The Swifts and House Martins over the Serpentine had attracted the attention of a Hobby. It made two high passes over them, and then, as I was passing the back of the Lido bathing area, it whizzed out a tree at head height, crossed the path and vanished into the trees on the other side. It didn't catch anything while I was there. Nor did I get a picture, so here is a fine view of this fine bird taken a few days ago by Paul Turner.

The pair of Nuthatches in the leaf yard were also visible, and came down repeatedly to take food off the fence.

I haven't seen any young ones yet, but they have certainly been nesting.

On the other hand, the thickets are full of young Blue Tits. Regular visitors to the leaf yard will know the Blue Tit with a patch of yellow feathers missing on its right side, so that you can see the grey feathers underneath -- we call him or her Patch. Well, Patch is now a parent, and here is the young one, perched on a twig and clamouring for food and fluttering its wings in the way that means 'Feed me.'

I haven't seen any young Great Tits yet, but no doubt they will be along quite soon.

The Common Terns seem to have tired of the Long Water and gone back up the Grand Union Canal, where they are most often seen.

The Serpentine is covered with hundreds of moulting Greylag and Canada Geese, most of them now completely missing their flight feathers. They will not be flying again till the end of the month.

As I was walking past the small reed bed at the southwest corner of the bridge, two Reed Warblers flew from one tree to another -- I only got a brief glimpse, but one of them started singing shortly afterwards and clinched the identification. At the same time another male was singing in the reed bed, and yet another in the reed bed near the Diana fountain. We really have a lot of them this year.