The owl watchers in Kensington Gardens spend so much time searching in a few places that they are all well known to the small birds, which come out expecting to be fed. This female Chaffinch has added herself to the group at the Tawny Owls' nest tree. At present she won't come to our hands, but probably will quite soon.

The male Tawny Owl was not visible, but the angry cries of Jays showed that he was in the top of the tree he has been using recently, next to the nest tree.

The male Little Owl was more obliging, and sat out on a branch on his nest tree.

Two Mallard drakes swept past Peter Pan at top speed. They had seen a female Mallard flying some distance away and were after her.

She escaped by flying through a tree and they returned to the lake disappointed.

On the Serpentine, a Greylag Goose was eating ice cream from a dropped cone with evident enjoyment.

Two Starlings at the Lido restaurant were finishing off a plate of fish and chips.

They flew off with their food across the lake to their nests in the plane trees by the small boathouses.

The number of Herring Gulls on the Serpentine continues to rise, almost all of them second- or third-summer.

A few years ago there were more Great Black-Backed Gulls than Herring Gulls. Many of the incomers will be from the breeding colony in Paddington. These used to nest on the station roof, but a few years ago building work here drove them to another building. It seems that the new site is a great success, because their numbers began to grow soon after they moved.

The Reed Warblers were singing in the reed bed near the Diana fountain, as hard to see as ever.

A pair of Egyptian Geese on the Round Pond have four new young. One of them is blond, and if it survives it will grow up into one of the white-headed variety. Blondie on the Serpentine looked like this when she was little.