Hobby over the Vista

A Hobby has been seen several times in Kensington Gardens, and today there was a sight of one flying high up the Vista to hunt dragonflies over the Round Pond.

The female Little Owl, in her usual lime tree, was bored with waiting for the park to close so she could go hunting.

Her mate stared severely down from the top of a horse chestnut.

Again I didn't find the young one, but that should be cause for alarm because it has stopped its incessant begging call and is also very mobile, both of which make it hard to find.

A young Blackcap perched on a twig near the Italian Garden.

The usual male Chaffinch found me at the bridge and followed me along the path, demanding pine nuts.

Ahmet Amerikali found a Reed Warbler in a tree near the Diana fountain. They often leave the reed bed to hunt insects in the nearby trees.

A Grey Heron chased another around the island.

A pair of Black-Headed Gulls on the Serpentine shore strutted around together and moaned affectionately. It isn't the breeding season but their bond needs to be kept up.

Two Cormorants perched on the fallen poplar in the Long Water.

The Great Crested Grebes' nest at the island is still hanging on to the chain.

One of the pairs of Coots in the Italian Garden had built a third nest, just because they can't stop building.

The plastic milk bottles are not a nest ornament. The park management supposed -- wrongly -- that you can keep down algae by putting hay or straw in the water. Rather than pay for bales, they got volunteers to stuff lawn mowings into nets, along with used milk bottles to keep the nets afloat -- I have no idea why they wanted them to float, which would make no difference to the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of this traditional remedy. The frail nets soon rotted and broke and the milk bottles floated to the surface, and the pools in the garden are littered with them. They look much worse than algae.

Ahmet Amerikali got an excellent picture of a female Tufted Duck with nine ducklings east of the Lido. I hadn't seen her at all and couldn't find her today. Probably she nested on the island and was taking her family on a feeding expedition.

Tufted Ducks have occasionally succeeded in raising young on the lake. The Herring Gulls are as ruthless as ever, but the ducklings can dive instantly and stay down for quite a long time.

One of the six young Egyptian Geese on the Long Water strolled ashore at the Vista,. Unlike waddling true geese, they walk elegantly.

The killer Mute Swan's mate is just as aggressive as he is, especially when other birds are near their six cygnets. She was attacking harmless Tufted Ducks, Coots and Canada Geese all minding their own business. Note also the flurry of Mallards at the top left corner towards the end, which is the subject of the next video.

The Mallard drake is in eclipse and should be having no thoughts of breeding, but Mallards are always overfull of hormones and he was having a go at a female.

The buddleia bush at the bridge didn't have a single butterfly on it, but it was visited by a large and handsome Hornet Hoverfly.

The red yarrow in the Rose Garden attracted a Batman Hoverfly ...

... and a small bee that was so covered in pollen that you couldn't tell much about it, but it looks to be an Andrena mining bee of some kind.