Grey Heron chicks

I heard Grey Heron chicks calling from a nest on the island several weeks ago but then nothing, and thought they'd died. But today two could be seen and heard, and it seems that they're already exploring the trees as they were some way from the nest.

A heron on the Long Water stalked past a Pochard.

The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull caught a Feral Pigeon but lost it when a young Herring Gull barged in and tried to take it. Naturally he was furious.

The female Peregrine on the tower was shaking out her feathers ...

... while her mate could just be seen circling at a great altitude.

The young Little Owl is still spending time in the nest tree, and occasionally looks out of the hole halfway up.

Belinda Davie sent a lovely picture of a Song Thrush in the Flower Walk.

I only saw smaller birds here -- one of the tame Robins looking out of a bush ...

... and the reliable female Coal Tit, both expecting pine nuts.

Near the bridge, there was a better view of the female Blackcap I photographed on Friday lurking inside a tree.

A Chiffchaff appeared on a holly tree near Peter Pan ...

... where it was following a flock of Long-Tailed Tits.

A pair of Great Crested Grebes fished around an air bubbler in the Long Water. The silt brought up by the bubbler attracts fish.

There are three Moorhen chicks near the small boathouses. The Egyptian family didn't like them being around.

A picture by Nick Abalov of a flock of Greylag Geese coming down on the Serpentine.

A Common Drone Fly, Eristalis tenax, spent several minutes going over a wild mustard flower.

Another remarkable picture by Duncan Campbell of a Common Wasp attacking a Honeybee. Here the bee has already been stung to death and the wasp is beginning to dismember it before carrying off the parts to its nest.