A dark and soggy Midsummer Day. A Blue Tit looked out from a holly bush among unripe berries.

A family of Long-Tailed Tits rushed around in the Dell. This is one of the young ones.

There was a handsome tri-coloured Feral Pigeon at the Triangle car park.

A Carrion Crow carefully pecked out the last bits of meat from a crayfish tail.

The Great Crested Grebes nesting in the fallen poplar tree on the Long Water have two chicks. The nest can only be viewed from the far side of the lake, so it's impossible to get good video of them.

So far I've only seen one chick in the nest under the willow by the bridge.

The single Coot chick from the nest on the other side of the bridge is wandering around freely, and is now quite large ...

... and the same with the three at Peter Pan.

Their survival in exposed places is due to the Herring Gulls and Lesser Black-Backs spending almost all their time at the east end of the Serpentine. I don't know why they are doing this.

It's also not clear why Mute Swans tolerate Coots nesting close to their own nests, as seen here on the Long Water island and also at the boathouse on the Serpentine. Do they find these aggressive birds good watchdogs?

The Moorhen near the Italian Garden and one of the chicks walked over reeds beaten down by the rain.

A Cormorant dived in the fountain, while a Grey Heron waited on the edge for a fish to pass.

The Cormorant scored first.

The Bar-Headed x Greylag Goose hybrid ignored the rain. This year it isn't accompanied by its siblings, which have stayed in St James's Park to moult.

Boxing practice had to move indoors.

The Fire Brigade made the day wetter by giving recruits practice in using a hose.