The hunter hunted

A Blue Tit picked off a ladybird from a bay leaf. The leaf shows considerable signs of insect damage and the ladybird would have been looking for whatever caused it, so it was a case of the hunter hunted.

A Great Tit in a tree in the Rose Garden sang a typical two-note song. But in fact Great Tit songs vary greatly and may have as many as eleven notes in a phrase. It's said that if you hear a bird singing and you can't work out what it is, it's probably a Great Tit.

A Goldcrest was singing in a yew tree behind the Peter Pan statue. If they didn't sing you'd seldom notice these tiny creatures.

Chiffchaffs were singing all round the Long Water but I didn't get a picture of one, so here is a good shot taken by Ahmet Amerikali in the Russia Dock Woodlands.

It's impossible to walk through Kensington Gardens without being spotted by the hungry Chaffinch. He appeared in the Flower Walk.

This Carrion Crow by the island had probably never seen a grape before, but happily ate it.

There was just enough wind to keep a Herring Gull hovering hopefully over some people eating a picnic on a bench.

You could just see the head of the Grey Heron sitting in the nest at the east end of the island.

Two pairs of Great Crested Grebes were having a territorial dispute on the Serpentine side of the bridge. This is the pair from the nest the other side of the bridge. The other was from the west end of the island.

The Black Swan was picking up nesting material, a sign that his Mute girlfriend can understand. She didn't seem impressed ...

... so he cruised off with wings raised and chased away another swan to show how tough he was. It was one of the five teenagers from the killer pair, but these are no longer defending their offspring.

The other four were lined up along the edge. They don't have many grey juvenile feathers now, and the next moult will see them pure white.

A pair of Egyptian Geese at the Lido have just one very new gosling. They must have lost the others in an instant, and sadly the survivor is probably not long for this world.

A Mallard drake preened his complicated wings.

A pair wandered through the daffodils by the Vista, looking for a nest site. They'd better not choose one here: there's a family of foxes in the brambles.

A pair of Gadwalls preened at the east end of the lake. The subdued but elegant markings of the drake match his quiet easygoing temperament, unlike the noisy aggression of a Mallard. They have the good sense not to try to breed in the dangerous park.

Hazards include not just gulls, crows and foxes, but also rats. There are a good many in the Flower Walk. This one was looking wistfully at some people feeding American grey squirrels and wondering why they were ignoring a native British rodent. 

Buff-Tailed Bumblebees browsed on the little flowers of a box bush in the Diana fountain car park.