Staying in the shade

A hot day again, and the small birds were keeping in the shade. This Great Tit was in the red-leafed cherry tree in the Flower Walk.

A flock of Long-Tailed Tits were flitting around inside a hawthorn, a favourite species with them as evidently it harbours a lot of insects.

But Neil photographed a pair of Blackbirds enjoyably sunbathing.

A young Chaffinch in the leaf yard was being fed by its parents in a yew tree. It came out on a twig for a moment.

The female Little Owl near the Round Pond was keeping an eye on the family from a shady branch in a tall lime tree.

One of the owlets could be seen in a horse chestnut.

Julia got a good picture of one spreading its wings.

Both owlets could be seen at the Serpentine Gallery ...

... though one was lurking in the shadows.

Their mother was lower down in the tree.

The two young Grey Herons in the nest on the Serpentine island stood side by side looking out over the lake.

The hot weather has made the water murky with small algae, as you can see in this view of a Great Crested Grebe below the bridge.

The Coots from the nest by the bridge, now healthy teenagers, absolutely refuse to become independent and are still following their parents about squeaking like babies, and still being fed. Some tough love is clearly necessary.

This female Pochard, seen from above on the weir at the outflow of the Serpentine, had ducklings a few days ago -- a very rare occurrence with Pochards here. But it looks as if they have been swept over the weir and are in the lower chamber next to the water filter, which is why she is hanging around on the edge. They can survive for some time here on the algae, plants and water creatures inside. But how can they get up? Rescuing them and putting them on the lake would just get them eaten by the ever present Herring Gulls.

The ugly koi, not seen for months, turned up in the same place. It has been here for years, and must have been discarded by its owner because he didn't like the look of its face.

Duncan Campbell continues to find interesting species of bee that I have never even heard of. This is a Red-Girdled Mining Bee, Andrena labiata, photographed next to a Honeybee to show how small it is.

It was attacked by an even smaller bee, maybe a male White Jawed Yellow-Faced Bee, Hylaeus confusus.

I am still at the beginner stage of trying to identify white butterflies, and one I claimed as a Large White several days ago turned out to be a Green-Veined White. But Neil sent this picture of a confidently identified Large White on the Verbena bonariensis in the Flower Walk ...

... and I think the one in my own picture taken in the same place is also Large, to judge by the well defined black wingtip.

Another fine picture by Neil: the dwarf pomegranate bush behind the statue of Big Bird is putting out flowers and developing fruit.