The joy of puddles

A Song Thrush ...

... and a Blackbird in the Flower Walk were delighted with the rain and bathed in a puddle.

Another Blackbird perched wringing wet in an aucuba bush ...

... and a soggy Feral Pigeon looked perfectly happy on the railings.

Rain makes no difference to Grey Herons ...

and a Cormorant was actually trying to dry its wings. I suppose this is an instinctive action and they don't actually think about whether they're getting drier or wetter.

Owls are not waterproof, since the fluffy feathers that enable them to fly silently absorb moisture readily. I waited till the rain stopped before going to the Round Pond to see the Little Owls, and found an owlet emerged from the hole ...

... and its mother, who had moved to a horse chestnut tree with more leaves on it than the almost bare one where she usually perches.

Both were fluffed up, and I think they had got a bit damp.

A Carrion Crow at the Dell restaurant perched on an umbrella and had a careful look around before coming down to take chips from an empty table. But some small movement caused it to flee. Crows are nervous of humans, rightly.

Starlings are confident of their ability to take off like a rocket, and rush in boldly.

It's remarkable how quickly the parched grass sprouts again after rain. A Wood Pigeon ate clover on a lawn in the Italian Garden.

The Mallard on the Serpentine had got her six ducklings through another day.  She preened and they copied her.

It's well known that preening is infectious, like sneezing for humans. A Coot family was no exception. There is a slight element of Henry Moore about this group.

Two Mute cygnets and a gaggle of Canada Geese were all preening on the gravel strip on the Long Water.

There were only two cygnets because the third one had stayed on the Serpentine.

A Mandarin drake in eclipse crossed the Vista.