Learning to fly

One of the two Great Crested Grebe chicks from the island tried out its newly grown flight feathers.

The single chick from the second nest on the island is growing fast on the fish constantly provided by its parents ...

... and is beginning to grow a little black crest.

You don't expect to see a Moorhen grazing like a tiny cow, but they can and do eat anything.

Two of the four young ones in the Italian Garden paddled past a clump of irises.

The ferocious Mute Swan family are spending much of the time on the gravel strip in the Long Water, in their newly conquered territory ...

... but so far the adults aren't interested in the nesting island, which has got completely overgrown and is only visited by Coots and Moorhens. Next spring they'll probably realise what it's for.

The Shovellers also like the gravel bank.

All the posts at Peter Pan were occupied, so a Cormorant had to balance unsteadily on a chain.

The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull was standing idly, digesting another heavy lunch ...

... and allowing a young Herring Gull to polish off the remains.

A Jackdaw drank from the lake.

A Long-Tailed Tit settled on a dead branch beside the Long Water.

A Robin perched in the corkscrew hazel in the Flower Walk.

A sunny day and and a half marathon race had brought crowds, and the Lido restaurant terrace was packed. Starlings waited on the umbrellas for their chance.

The female Little Owl at the Round Pond was in her usual place in the horse chestnut tree. Sooner or later she's going to tire of it and go somewhere else where we can't find her, so we might as well make the most of her gracious presence.

A pair of Common Darter dragonflies mated, carelessly placed in the middle of the path by the Italian Garden. Luckily they can fly without letting go during this long and involved process.