The shy owl at the obelisk

The male Little Owl near the Speke obelisk looked out of the nest hole on the chestnut tree. I hastily photographed the nervous bird before he retreated.

A Cetti's Warbler called from the Serpentine island. This is the first time I've heard one there, although a few years ago there was a pair near the Lido. This photograph by Neil is not of either of them -- it was taken beside the Long Water -- but it's a pleasing image of a most elusive creature.

A Coal Tit perched on a rose bush in the Rose Garden.

A Long-Tailed Tit had a background of autumn colours in the Flower Walk.

No matter how small and muddy a puddle may be, birds always prefer to drink from it rather than from the lake. The water from the borehole that feeds the lake must be very harsh tasting. I am not going to try it.

A pair of Magpies always chase me down the edge of the Long Water demanding peanuts.

A Grey Heron had a scratch on a dead tree near Peter Pan.

There are now at least 30 Cormorants on the Long Water, most of them perched on the posts at Peter Pan. Some were fishing under the parapet of the Italian Garden.

A Great Crested Grebe was fishing under the bridge.

I saw the two newly paired Mute Swans in the Italian Garden poking along the edge of a fountain pool and went over to see what they were doing.

They were scraping up tufts of grass and weeds and dropping them on the pavement. This is a nest building ritual, although of course it was neither the time nor the place for nesting, and it shows that the pair is now firmly bonded.

This is one of the newly arrived ultra blond Egyptian Geese with white wings beside the Serpentine. Their faces are darker than Blondie's but their wings much paler.

A Gadwall drake on the Serpentine looked very smart in his quiet way.

In the Rose Garden a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee collected pollen from a single rose -- they can't get into double ones.

A Common Wasp worked over a fuchsia.