A Kestrel appeared on Buck Hill again today. It seems that there is a pair in the neighbourhood, as this is a female and I have seen a male this year too. She chose an oddly thin twig to perch on, which sagged three feet under her weight when she landed on it.

The rowan trees at the edge of the road had attracted several Mistle Thrushes, which were enjoying the berries. This is a bird hatched this year, still with a yellow gape but now feeding itself.

The Coots on the Italian Garden pond had managed to herd all their five chicks into the nest they have built in the waterlily patch. It makes a picture, but the whole procedure seems a bit pointless since they had a perfectly good nest already.

The Moorhens are sticking to their original nest in the cover of the clump of purple loosestrife.

The Grest Crested Grebe family on the Long Water were keeping their chicks in the safe shelter of the willow tree opposite Peter Pan. There were several Herring Gulls and Lesser Black-Backed Gulls waiting hungrily on the posts nearby.

A Blue Tit was sunbathing in the leaf yard.

The male Little Owl was not visible earlier, but came out in last year's nest tree at 3.45.

I went up to the patches of ragwort in Hyde Park across the road from Buck Hill, hoping to find a Common Blue butterfly. And at last there was one. They are hugely outnumbered by Meadow Browns, which are everywhere in the long grass.

A male Emperor dragonfly was methodically quartering the water between the Italian Garden and the willow tree. This area is clogged with algae, which are thronged with insects for this agile predator to seize.