October sunshine

It was an unseasonably warm and sunny day. The teenage Little Owl at the Round Pond was lurking in the small lime tree next to the nest tree, hard to see through the leaves.

A Wren chittered on the railings of the leaf yard ...

... and a Robin stared solemnly from a twig.

Two Feral Pigeons at Peter Pan suddenly started fighting on the path. I think they're both male and one of them didn't like another making advances to his mate.

A Wood Pigeon wobbled awkwardly on a small stick for a few seconds before flying off to find somewhere more comfortable.

A Magpie posed elegantly in a black walnut near the Dell ...

... and a Jackdaw looked out from the next tree, a lime. Both were expecting peanuts. The Jackdaws who recently expanded their territory to the east end of Hyde Park are all from Kensington Gardens and know me already from having been fed on their home ground.

The Carrion Crows have been restricted in their scavenging by a new set of rubbish bins which have tops, so the birds can no longer dive in and toss out the contents to investigate. But they will always find a way, and this one was going through a bread bag to see if there were any remaining crumbs.

Bread gets dunked in a puddle. Crows like their food soggy.

You can always tell from a distance if the pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull is on his home ground by the Dell restaurant because there are no large gulls in the area. When he flies in he gives a loud call to warn them to leave before he starts chasing them off.

Cormorants lined up on a small fallen tree in the Long Water. It's still a full house here with every available perch taken.

One of the pair of Moorhens in the Dell preened in the sunshine. It's been a hard year. The male lost his mate and found another and they bred, but none of the chicks survived. However, they are indomitable birds and I'm sure they'll do better next year.

The dominant Mute Swan pair and the five teenagers were spread over the west end of the Serpentine, excluding other swans all the way to the Lido restaurant. But the pair in the Italian Garden will have to abandon their hopes of taking over the Long Water, because there is no chance that the dominant pair will abandon their claim to the small nesting island that was built for them.

The Michaelmas daisies in the Rose Garden are wilting, but there are still a few flowers to attract a Common Carder Bee.

Buff-Tailed Bumblebees were making the most of the adjacent patch of lavender.