The Stonechat returns

An otherwise ordinary day was lifted by the return of the Stonechat to Buck Hill. Perhaps it had spent the intervening time on the Meadow, a good quiet place for Stonechats though they are very hard to find in the wide expanse.

The day was also enlivened by a splendid picture from Virginia. A Carrion Crow on the front lawn of Kensington Palace was playing with a tennis ball, picking it up and smashing it down and pecking at it.

One of the Coal Tits at the southwest corner of the bridge came out on a yew twig laden with pollen.

A Wren jumped around in the middle of a hawthorn tree by the Queen's Temple.

A Robin at Mount Gate waited to be fed. There's a pair here.

The Peregrines arrived late on the barracks, but were still there when I lost sight of the tower at 3.15.

A Lesser Black-Backed Gull had a thorough wash on the Long Water. The behaviour is infectious, and a young Herring Gull started washing too.

Pigeon Eater was with his mate at the Dell restaurant.

The two young Grey Herons on the island were preening in the upper nest.

The old heron at the Henry Moore sculpture glared at a younger one invading his territory, but the intruder kept just far enough away to avoid starting a fight.

Later they both went down to fish on the gravel strip, still keeping their distance.

This picture also shows three adult Mute Swans daring to intrude on the Long Water, along with one of the killer's teenagers. But if the killer returns all four will be chased off, because he has finished with his last brood and is thinking about the prospect of another.

The Egyptian Geese on the Serpentine are down to six goslings. All except the weakest one can now jump up the kerb to get at the grass. I made a little ramp out of sand to help it climb, but they seldom notice attempts to be helpful.

There is a new Coot nest at Peter Pan.

A Coot in the Italian Garden brought a withered iris leaf to the nest, an unnecessary gesture since the nest is in the middle of a clump of dead irises but it showed his mate he was busy on her behalf.

Ahmet Amerikali found a Mallard family at Canada Water, a surprisingly good spot for birds considering it's surrounded by vast modern office buildings.

In the Rose Garden a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee landed on a polyanthus primrose, not a productive flower from a bee's point of view and it only stayed for a moment.

It flew off to a hellebore, a much better source of food. They're hard to photograph here, as the flowers hang down and the bees go up inside and disappear from view.