Another Great Crested Grebe nest

There is a second Great Crested Grebe nest on the island, about halfway along the shore in a dark place under a bush. Many thanks to Mary-Lu who spotted it, as I had missed it completely. The grebe was sitting with its wings raised as if it was already sheltering chicks. This will be something to watch closely.

The other three active nests were all in good shape.

A Coots' nest on the Long Water had been commandeered by a Black-Headed Gull. The Coot in the background didn't seem to mind, so perhaps it wasn't that Coot's nest. A Pochard rested beside it.

When I went past again later the Pochard had turfed out the gull.

Pigeon Eater's mate was on the roof of a boathouse being mercilessly pestered by the young one. She took no notice, thinkng it was quite old enough to feed itself.

Pigeon Eater himself was keeping well out of the clamour on the Dell restaurant roof.

A three-year-old Herring Gull, still not quite grown up, played with a feather.

On a warm afternoon a Cormorant panted and vibrated its throat to cool down.

The young Mute Swans had made themselves a comfortable place to sit in a reed bed on the Long water.

The Chiffchaff family behind the Queen's Temple could be occasionally glimpsed moving around in the leaves, and the male was singing. Chiffchaffs do sing oout of season on sunny days, even in winter.

One of the young Blackbirds came out on a branch.

The tatty Robin at Mount Gate arrived to take pine nuts.

Ahmet Amerikali got a good picture of a Reed Warbler under the Italian Garden. Judging by the way the adults are still dashing about, they have a second brood of chicks. It's possible that they lost an earlier one.

A Common Blue butterfly behind the Lido displayed its patterned underwings, which are not blue at all. Only the male has blue upperwings, and the females are brown. In contrast the Holly Blue butterfly is blue above and below.

A female Common Darter dragonfly, pinkish gold unlike the red of the male, perched on the railings on the north side of the Italian Garden.

The tiny Buff-Tailed Bumblebee could be seen again on the hemp agrimony in the Dell.

A Common Carder bee climbed over a verbena flower in the Rose Garden.

A Hornet Hoverfly on a leaf by the bridge used its front legs to polish its eyes.

The gargoyles on the Albert Memorial have babies -- but that is hardly recent news as they have been there since 1872.

Young herons down from the nest

Two of the three latest young Grey Herons had come down from their nest for the first time. They stood uncomfortably on the wire baskets around the edge of the island.

The third was still in the nest.

A few minutes later one of the young herons had flown back up to the nest and the other was amusing itself by climbing in a clump of purple loosestrife.

They aren't independent yet and will be returning to the nest to be fed. Presumably this is the end of the very long nesting season, which started on 21 December last year and has produced 17 young birds from six nests, a record for the park.

Old nests remain useful. The Coots south of Peter Pan have long since finished bringing up their family, but both adults and young use the nest as a resting place.

Even the perennially unsuccessful nest on the post, which has now lost most of its twigs, still provides a useful perch.

The dominant Mute Swan continues his advance down the Serpentine. He had brought his teenagers beyond the Lido ...

... and was bullying another swan just for the hell of it.

An Egyptian Goose displayed its iridescent green secondary feathers.

One of the young Blackbirds behind the Queen's Temple was foraging under a lime tree.

A Great Spotted Woodpecker flew into the top of a tall lime by the leaf yard.

The older of the two familiar male Chaffinches in Kensington Gardens intercepted me by the Serpentine Gallery, again in a lime, and flew out several times to catch pine nuts in midair.

A threadbare Jay waited for a peanut in a dead tree by Peter Pan.

A visit to the clump of hemp agrimony in the Dell found a tiny Buff-Tailed Bumblebee, smaller than an ordinary Honeybee. They vary quite a lot in size.

There were also a handsome Batman Hoverfly ...

... a Common Drone Fly ...

... and a Greenbottle.

A Willow Emerald Damselfly pereched on the railings. Oddly, that's the best place to find one, as they like the warmth of the iron on a sunny day.

Tom was at Rainham Marshes and sent a fine but sad picture of a Reed Warbler feeding an enormous young Cuckoo that has been wished on the nest by its parasitic parents. Much as I love birds, I can't help finding Cuckoos horrible.

Another pigeon killer at the Albert Hall

Again, the wild area behind the Queen's Temple was the best place to find small birds, though it was hard to get reasonable pictures in the dense leaves. A female Blackcap was ticking loudly at an intruder.

The young Chiffchaff was visible again ...

... and so was one of the two young Blackbirds.

A Jackdaw was expecting a peanut.

At Mount Gate ...

... and in the Flower Walk Robins were waiting for pine nuts.

The Herring Gull pair at the Dell restaurant are definitely making a claim for Pigeon Eater's place on the roof. They fled when Mrs Pigeon Eater landed, pursued by the hungry young one which chased her all over the roof.

When she lost patience and flew away they returned to the same spot.

There's another pigeon killer, this time not in the park but nearby at the Albert Hall. The security guards saw it kill this feral Pigeon, and I arrived when it was feeding.

The three Great Crested Grebe nests were all in good order. The male was taking his turn on the nest under the willow by the bridge, and his mate visited him.

A Grey Heron fishing a few feet away was not a threat, as the nest is in a place it can't reach.

Jon sent a pleasing video of a Little Grebe at Clissold Park in Hackney with three chicks. Two of them were chasing a parent around.

I've only known Little Grebes to breed once in Kensington Gardens. The ravenous Herring Gulls took all the chicks in a couple of days. Little Grebes are only infrequent visitors to the park anyway, which is a pity.

The Egyptian Goose on the Serpentine with one remaining gosling had a fit of vagueness and went on to the grass without making sure it was following her. The gosling came up from the shore looking for her, and she suddenly realised what she'd done and came back.

This is the almost white Greylag Goose that is slightly over normal size and probably has a bit of domestic goose in its ancestry. Domestic geese are Greylags bred for size, so it's not actually a hybrid. There are also two normal sized off-white Greylags on the lake which are probably leucistic wild birds.

A pair of Common Darter dragonflies at Peter Pan were in tandem, flying around together while the female deposited eggs on the algae. This is normal behaviour for the species. The male keeps other males away, and at the same time four eyes are better than two at spotting predators.

A male Willow Emerald damselfly perched on the railings.

The busy patch of hemp agrimony in the Dell had an Ornate-Tailed Digger Wasp, Cerceris rybyensis ...

... and a Speckled Wood butterfly.

A Common Wasp was strangely busy on the railings. It looked as if it had thought the iron was wood and was trying to scrape some off to make papier mâché for its nest. But I really don't know what it was doing.

Behind the Queen's Temple

Few small birds were showing in the usual spots, apart from a young Blackbird near the Italian Garden which didn't turn round before some tourists blundered past and scared it away.

So I went to the wild patch behind the Queen's Temple, which is usually a good place, and there were plenty of birds, including juveniles. There were two young Blackbirds ...

... and a young Song Thrush foraging on the grass.

A young Chiffchaff was jumping around the branches ...

... and there was a glimpse of a parent in the next tree.

A Jay looked down expectantly.

Part of the lawn east of the Dell always floods after rain. A Carrion Crow was picking small insects or larvae out of the muddy water.

This pair of Herring Gulls is often seen on the Dell restaurant roof. They don't seem to be deterred by Pigeon Eater chasing them off again and again.

The single cygnet was on the lake below, taking no notice of a Canada Goose flapping at it.

One of the blond Egyptians had a vigorous wash and a flap. He has grey primary feathers and tail rather than the usual dark brown.

The Egyptian mother near the Lido is still clinging to her last gosling.

The Tufted Duck on the Long Water has four remaining ducklings, and they're growing well and pretty much out of danger.

But predictably, disaster has struck the Coots' nest by the bridge. All the eggs are gone. This place is out of the reach of foxes. Could it have been an attack by a very determined Herring Gull?

There was a good selection of insects over the water by Peter Pan. Black-Tailed Skimmer dragonflies were mating on of floating twig ...

... and so were Common Blue damselflies, light enough to stand directly on the algae.

An Emperor dragonfly zoomed back and forth.

There was also a momentary glimpse of a Darter, but not for long enough either to photograph it or to determine its species.

A Willow Emerald damselfly rested on a leaf in the Dell.

In the Rose Garden, a Honeybee browsed on a gazania ...

... and another was busy on a bidens.

The unpredictable variety of cultivated flowers in the herbaceous borders doesn't seem to trouble the bees at all. They always find something they like.

Later: A brief clip from Jon showing the little Mandarin, now safely escorted down from the Round Pond to the Long Water by its mother. Thanks to its tough upbringing, it's the only one that dares to go through the gang of Mute cygnets while its mother and two siblings hang back.