A quiet day

One of the young Peregrines soared over the bridge.

Later they could both be seen perched on the barracks tower, a respectful distance apart.

They always seem to be here by themselves, never with their parents, which is a shame as I wanted to get a shot of all four together.

Otherwise it was a thoroughly uneventful day. It was a bit cooler and there was a breeze, and the Great Tits in the Flower Walk had come out of shelter to demand pine nuts as usual.

A Coal Tit waited in a yew tree.

The young Robin perched on the railings, and flew down to collect pine nuts from the ground. It should be possible to make friends with it, but this takes time.

The Greenfinch family were flying around in the trees near Peter Pan. This one wasn't doing much, just chirping occasionally, but it's good to get a view of one. The bird call at 25 seconds, just before it flew away, was from a Cetti's Warbler.

A Carrion Crow emerged from the Long Water where it had been cooling down.

The young Grey Herons were together in the nest. Although one of them is now flying down and back it isn't going far, sticking to the area under the nest. Soon it should venture on to the shore, and after that it may be anywhere as it explores the park. But it really is time the other young heron became more adventurous.

The Great Crested Grebe family was in the shade of the trees on the island.

The female Mute Swan and her cygnets were on the gravel strip on the Long Water. They're getting quite large.

Red-Crested Pochards in eclipse have the same brown and grey plumage as females, but their bright red bills and eyes show what sex they are. As usual with ducks there is a surplus of drakes, and they hang around together in all-male gangs.

There was just one Burnet Moth near the Vista. A few years ago there was a breeding colony on the other side of the lake near the Steiner bench and it looked as if we might get a good population of these beautiful moths. But immediately the park management, which as usual didn't have the faintest idea about what was happening on the ground, had the long grass cut down and wiped them out.

Black-Tailed Skimmers are always the commonest species of dragonfly in the park, and much the easiest to photograph as they like to perch on sun-warmed stone and metal. This male was on the railings at the Triangle.

There are plenty of Blue-Tailed Damselflies in the Italian Garden.

The clumps of Verbena bonariensis in the Rose Garden attract various insects, including this Large White butterfly ..

... and the abundant Buff-Tailed Bumblebees.

Staying in the shade

Another hot sunny day kept the birds in the shade. A Jay sheltered in a tree in the Flower Walk ...

... and a Magpie on a rock in the Dell.

The Great Tits, usually so eager to come out for food, were a bit apathetic and I had to encourage this one in the Flower Walk.

The young Robin, which we've seen here before, was foraging in the flower bed below and was happy to pick up some pine nuts.

The Greenfinches in the holly near Peter Pan were full of bounce. They're hard to see in the leaves but I got a glimpse of a female.

A Wood Pigeon eating elderberries reached too far and fell off the twig.

There was a light breeze at the Round Pond, enough to keep the female Little Owl comfortable in her usual lime tree.

A young Peregrine on the barracks tower would also have been cool enough 300 feet up. It was dozing and refused to open its eyes.

A Grey Heron at the island panted to cool down. The  typical heron 'Space Shuttle' sunbathing position felt too hot, so it closed its wings.

The two young herons were both in the nest. The adventurous one, on the left here, is still returning because this is where it gets fed. It's trying to catch fish now but probably not getting much.

The male Great Crested Grebe was looking after the three chicks.

The six Mute cygnets and their mother came under the bridge on to the Long Water, seen here looking down from the bridge parapet.

The Tufted Duck was at the Vista again. She still has eight ducklings, but the most I could photograph on the surface was six of them.

Red-Crested Pochard drakes hung around in the middle of the lake. There don't seem to be any females.

Small Red-Eyed Damselflies mated on the algae in the Italian Garden ...

... and a male Blue-Tailed Damselfly rested on an iris leaf.

A male Black-Tailed Skimmer dragonfly sunned itself on a chain at the bridge.

The Lesser Emperor was here again and I think there were some others in the distance, too far off to identify with certainty.

A Honeybee visited a Great Willowherb flower.

More insects than birds

Hot sunny days are not a good time for seeing small birds, and I only got pictures of a Coal Tit in the crabapple tree at Mount Gate ...

... a Robin on the railings in the Flower Walk ...

... and another Robin in the Rose Garden shrubbery.

Ahmet Amerikali found a Goldcrest in the big yew tree at the southeast corner of the Dell.

A Magpie climbed up the slate roof of a boathouse.

The female Little Owl at the Round Pond was preening in a horse chestnut tree.

The enterprising young Grey Heron was enjoying climbing around on the wire baskets surrounding the island.

But its timid sibling was still in the nest.

In the water below the three Great Crested Grebe chicks were together on their father's back -- it was a tricky business getting all three in view.

They soon jumped off, but then wanted to return. When they climb on to their parent they send it spinning round.

The Tufted ducklings at the Vista are now diving so frantically that it's almost impossible to count them.

I got just one still picture of them all on the surface, showing that there are still eight.

Is the Tufted Duck the only species that has all-brown ducklings?

A Pochard drake near the Lido was looking quite smart considering he is supposed to be in eclipse. But it's the gaudy ducks such as Mandarins and Mallards that change most.

There was a mob of carp mooching around in the algae in the southeast pool of the Italian Garden. There used to be perch in this pool but I haven't seen one for a long time, and maybe the carp have crowded them out.

The sunshine brought out plenty of insects, including a male Emperor flying over the algae at the north end of the Long Water.

I was puzzled by this dragonfly flying under the bridge, which looked like a female Emperor but had a brown thorax instead of green. Looking it up, I think it's a Lesser Emperor, Anax parthenope. Conehead 54 reckons it's a male: this species is less colourful than the larger Emperor.

As I was trying the photograph a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee and a Honeybee on the same globe thistle flower in the Rose Garden ...

... this silvery grey bee landed for a moment and I just got a couple of shots before it flew away. I thought it might be an Ashy Mining Bee, Andrena cineraria, but Duncan Campbell says its abdomen is too hairy and it looks like an abnormally pale Buff-Tailed Bumblebee. It did see it better than this hastily snatched picture shows, and it didn't have a trace of yellow, orange or brown anywhere. Later: Duncan has found a picture of a male Buff-Tailed Bumblebee just as colourless as the one here on Steven Falk's Flickr page. You'll have to scroll down a short way to see it.

A bit of sun

A hot sunny day kept most of the small birds in cover, but there was a view of a young Robin in the Flower Walk ...

... and a Wren in the trees near Peter Pan.

A family of Greenfinches was zooming around in a holly tree. The best I could manage through the leaves is this very bad shot, but at least it includes three of them.

Most of the Jackdaws have moved to an area between the Physical Energy statue and the leaf yard.

One of the young Peregrines was on the barracks tower.

The elderberries are disappearing long before they are ripe, thanks to the ravenous Wood Pigeons.

As usual, one young Grey Heron was down from the nest and exploring the island ...

... while the other was still in the nest and showing no sign of leaving. This is unusual, as siblings usually do things together for some time after leaving the nest.

The three Great Crested Grebe chicks are now being carried around by their parents, though when I was there only one little stripy head was looking out from its father's back. It was the mother's turn to fish for them, but when she passed she hadn't got anything yet.

There's no shortage of very young carp up to an inch and a half long. There are shoals of them all the way up both shores of the Serpentine.

The Coots' new nest in the Italian Garden is growing daily. The mess of floating milk bottles still hasn't been cleared up.

The Tufted Duck seen here at the Vista has managed to keep eight of her original nine ducklings since she was first seen on 19 July. They survive the hungry gulls better than Mallard ducklings, as they can dive instantly from the moment they are hatched.

There was also a Mallard with a single duckling. Thanks to Duncan Campbell for this picture.

Two more pictures from Duncan. This is an Ornate-Tailed Digger Wasp, Cercis rybyensis, seen next to a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee. It has the ghoulish habit of hunting small bees, paralysing them with a sting, and carrying them to its nest where the larvae feed on them while they are still alive.

He also sent this good view of a Hornet Hoverfly. It really isn't much like a hornet and surely birds can spot the difference, but even a faint resemblance to a dangerous insect is better than none in the battle to avoid being eaten.

Two Burnet Moths clung to a grass seed head near the Vista.

A Speckled Wood butterfly sunned itself on the Flower Walk railings.