A warm sunny day had brought a lot of birds down to the water to bathe and cool off. There was a Carrion Crow in the little pool at the top of the Dell waterfall ...

... and a Magpie in the Serpentine ...

... and a Starling.

Another Starling was emerging from a nest hole in one of the plane trees next to the small boathouses.

The nesting Starlings were constantly flying from here across the lake to collect food from the Lido restaurant. Evidently they already have nestlings.

We made a trip round the lake in a pedalo, kindly lent to us free by Peter Scott at Bluebird Boats, to shoot some video for Joanna van de Woestijne's next film. This allowed a good view of the Great Crested Grebes' nest on the island.

The Coots nesting in the fallen poplar tree near Peter Pan had ornamented their nest with a large piece of plastic sheet which also served as a sunshade.

As it says on the edge of the pound coins, Decus et tutamen (An ornament and a safeguard -- a phrase from the Aeneid adopted by Sir Isaac Newton when he was the Master of the Royal Mint, who introduced a milled edge for coins to stop people clipping bits of silver off them).

The Moorhen with an injured leg which has been resting on the edge of the Serpentine for several days seems to be recovering. It could barely hop at first, but has now progressed to walking with a limp, and can swim quite well.

Some Grey Herons were having a squabble on Buck Hill -- about a bit of food, of course.

A Blue Tit was looking pretty in the leaf yard.

The Little Owl in the chestnut tree was out on a high branch.

He was much less nervous today, and allowed four people to approach with cameras. And yes, it is the same owl, as the two are easy to tell apart.

A young rabbit near the Rudolf Steiner bench was enjoying the bluebells. It ate several.