Crow learning its trade

A Goldcrest came out in the yew tree by the bridge ...

... and a Starling perched on the railings on the other side of the path.

There was a Wren by the Queen's Temple.

The ever present male Chaffinch intercepted me in the Flower Walk.

Several Long-Tailed Tits were working over the dead hawthorn near the Henry Moore sculpture.

A young Carrion Crow near the Serpentine Gallery has now learnt the art of shelling a peanut, but it still takes two minutes when an adult would do it in 15 seconds. It will get better. But it's odd that a Jay, which is smaller, can bite through the shell with a single crunch.

The female Little Owl at the Round Pond was on a shady branch in a horse chestnut.

Mark Williams reports that there are seven young Blackbirds in St James's Park.

I only know of four here, but numbers are recovering a bit after near extinction in the last few years. However, it's a dreadful decline since the 1950s when Roy Sanderson's Blackbird survey reported 220 territories in Kensington Gardens alone.

A Grey Heron is often found on the slope up to the northwest corner of the bridge. Evidently people have been feeding it here.

Pigeon Eater was back in his favourite place on the Dell restaurant roof, having chased off all the intruding Herring Gulls. You can usually tell he's here by the absence of other big gulls.

The Black Swan cruised in the lake below.

One of the pale Greylag Geese stepped carefully on to the slippery concrete edge of the Serpentine. It's impossible for them to enter the water gracefully, as they just slide down the algae-covered slope and splash in. They have to use their wings to get out.

A young fox took its ease in the Dell.

There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of young carp about three inches long in the Italian Garden fountain pools.  Only a few tens will survive after visiting Cormorants have feasted on them.

A male Common Darter dragonfly rested on the kerb of one of the pools. I only had my small camera with me when I saw it, so this isn't a wonderful picture.

The long flowering rugosa roses in the Rose Garden continue to blossom, and Buff-Tailed Bumblebees particularly enjoy their abundant pollen.

A Honeybee was busy on a helenium in the Flower Walk.

The gardeners have chopped the patch of green alkanet by the bridge down to the ground twice this year, but it gallantly springs up again and provides food for Honeybees.