Young Wren and Robin

A young Wren preened in a tree on the east side of the the Long Water.

A pair of Magpies perched on a felled tree trunk and the female displayed, fluttering her wings. A Carrion Crow chased them off and took the perch for itself.

Two Robins in different places on the path were gathering caterpillars for their chicks.

A young Robin, still in speckled juvenile plumage, perched in a tree in the Dell.

A Greenfinch sang in a tree near Peter Pan.

A group of Carrion Crows were having a fight at the Vista.

It seemed to be the usual comic brawl, but a few minutes later I saw a crow in the water being attacked by the local Egyptian Goose with goslings, and it drowned and died despite my efforts to fish it out with a branch. I don't know whether this was connected with the fight or not -- perhaps it had tried to snatch a gosling and come off worse.

One of the Grey Wagtails in the Dell had a faceoff with a Moorhen on the small waterfall.

A few Swifts were flying over the Serpentine.

But I haven't seen a single House Martin. Have the wretched Egyptians netted them all?

The Tawny Owl was in his oak tree in the morning, though he went in when it started drizzling.

His cheering presence was much needed on a day of bad news. The Mute Swans on the Long Water have lost two of their cygnets and are down to five ...

... and the ones at the Lido have also lost two and now have only three.

The Mandarin at the Vista had just three ducklings left in the morning ...

... but when I went back later there were none to be seen, and she was sitting alone on the edge. It's hard to know whether a duck looks depressed, stoical, or just indifferent.

The Coots nesting on the post at Peter Pan quickly lost their first brood to gulls. Ever hopeful, they are raising a second brood.

The gulls are in a militant mood. A young Lesser Black-Back was hunting Feral Pigeons at the Triangle car park ...

... and the Herring Gull which we have seen before was on the prowl at the Dell restaurant. Neither caught anything while I was there.

Bees are particularly fond of the little mauve flowers of the woolly silver-leafed plant known commonly as Lamb's Ears. A patch in the Rose Garden had at least a dozen Buff-Tailed Bumblebees on it.