Hot herons

The hot sunshine kept the small birds in the Flower Walk in the shade. This is the familiar Coal Tit.

But they were happy enough to come out for a pine nut. This is Neil's picture of one of his regular Great Tits on the fence.

A Jay was expecting a peanut.

A Magpie drank from the bird bath, unfailingly refilled every day by the gardeners ...

... before coming down for a peanut of its own.

A Feral Pigeon sunbathed on the path.

The pair of Robins in the leaf yard have split up at the end of the breeding season. Both were lurking in a yew tree some distance apart making menacing noises at each other. And so it will be until they get together again next spring.

Neil got a remarkable shot of one of the Little Owlets at the Round Pond sunbathing at the hole in the dead tree where their parents nested.

I found two here, though it's impossible to tell whether these three pictures show three different owlets.

Only one was visible at the Serpentine Gallery, where their mother was out on a well shaded branch.

One of the young Grey Herons in the nest on the island panted and vibrated its throat to cool down, then spread its wings in that distinctive heron attitude which may be as much for removing parasites as for basking. The other young heron took advantage of its sibling's shade.

The young Coots from the nest at the bridge are finally making an effort to find their own food, though they are still squeaking plaintively as long as a parent is within sight.

A Greylag Goose enjoyed an apple, deftly keeping it away from a Canada Goose trying to take it.

The female Pochard is still standing on the weir where she has been for several days. I really don't know whether her ducklings are alive below the weir and she is keeping watch over them, of whether she has just decided that it's a good place to hang out.

A new bee from Duncan Campbell: it's a Leafcutter Bee, possibly Willughby's Leafcutter, Megachile willughbiella.

He reminds me that the Ivy Bee ought to be on the list -- the only bee in the park that I've seen and he hasn't. The list is still being confirmed and updated and will be republished in due course.

A very pleasing picture by Nick Abalov of a Large White butterfly in the Flower Walk.