All the carp you can eat

We needn't worry about the young Great Crested Grebe stranded in the Dell not having enough to eat. Yesterday Julia filmed it with a large carp it had caught, which it was just able to swallow after several minutes of exertion. She filmed the beginning and end of the long process and took some stills in the middle, which are included here.

Since it's the weekend, no further rescue attempts have been made. Today it was resting under the small waterfall with a Moorhen poking about in the background ...

... and one of the young Grey Herons also fishing.

One of the grebe chicks on the Long Water chased its father across the lake.

The Moorhen at the Vista had climbed to the top of a bush and was preening.

The Coot chicks in the nest on the post at Peter Pan are now active and demanding. So far their parents have managed to keep them in the nest where they are reasonably safe, but as soon as they come out on the water they are exposed to hungry gulls, and there is usually a Lesser Black-Backed Gull hanging around waiting for its chance.

A third chick appeared for a moment, but went down into the nest before I could film it.

Some of the Mallard drakes are now fully back in breeding plumage. One was resting on the collapsed willow near the bridge.

An Egyptian Goose splashed and preened on the Serpentine.

The Grey Wagtail whizzed down the lake and could later be seen at the top of the Dell waterfall.

The Little Owl at the Round Pond was on the horse chestnut branch where she has been for several days, but by ranging around I managed to find a place from which you could get a slightly better view of her.

There wasn't much to see in the way of small birds, but a Great Tit came out on the railings at Mount Gate ...

... the inevitable Chaffinch intercepted me at the back of the Albert Memorial ...

... and one of the many Robins in the Flower Walk was singing in a yew tree.

Julia got a good shot of one of the foxes in the Dell.

The planters around the edge of the Italian Garden contain a variety of small flowers, and a Honeybee was browsing on some white flowers that I thought were Alyssum. Later: Conehead 54 identifies these as Chaenostoma cordatum.

A very small bee appeared on a daisy. I thought it might be a Common Miniature Mining Bee, Andrena minutula, but was far from sure. Later: Conehead 54 thinks it's a Lasioglossum species, but also not sure. What a wealth of tiny bees out there.