It was a hot day.

The small birds were keeping in cover, and there was only a distant glimpse of a Long-Tailed Tit in a holly tree.

It took three visits to Buck Hill to find the young Little Owl.

Jackdaws have taken over the nest hole once used by the Little Owls near the leaf yard.

A Great Crested Grebe chick kept cool in the shade of the willow near the bridge.

A Moorhen and a Coot had a tense faceoff in the Italian Garden. The Moorhen has a nest with chicks in one of the planters, and the Coot objects to it.

Seen from the bridge, a Mute Swan flew down the Long Water. They either have to haul themselves up to fly over the bridge, or splash down before they reach it and swim underneath. They won't fly under the arches, understandably as they are big and not at all manouevrable in the air.

The Black Swan extended its remarkably long neck to drink from the Serpentine.

A young Egyptian Goose enjoyed a splashy wash.

A shoal of young Common Carp about 3 inches long whisked around in the Italian Garden fountain.

The Small Red-Eyes Damselflies in the next pool had all decided to mate at once, somehow managing to fight at the same time.

An unusual picture by Mark Williams of a pair of butterflies mating. I think they must be Small Whites, but their position hides their markings.

A large hornet-mimicking hoverfly, Volucella zonaria, in the shrubbery at the foot of Buck Hill.

The wildflower patch at the back of the Lido hasn't done at all well this year, but it has managed to produce just one red poppy.

Finally, something really exotic. Martin Sacks sent this picture of a Fischer's Turaco (Tauraco fischeri), an East African bird, which has been living in West Hampstead Cemetery for the past two years. It makes strange froglike calls. It's not an escape from Regent's Park Zoo and no one knows where it has come from.