Angry Wren

A Wren in the Flower Walk was jumping around and loudly scolding a Magpie, somehow managing to do this while holding several insects in its beak (for their identification, please see Jim's comment below). It wanted to take these to its nest, but couldn't while the Magpie was watching.

A Blackbird at Mount Gate was looking for insects in the parched grass. No worms would be available in the hard ground.

Two young Starlings squabbled about leftovers at the Lido restaurant.

A Carrion Crow, bored with its young one's incessant begging, told it firmly to shut up.

A Wood Pigeon cooled down with a dip in the Serpentine.

The female Little Owl looked down from the other chestnut tree at the Serpentine Gallery.

I got a momentary glimpse of an owlet in the nest tree, a flash of frightened jade-green eyes and it was away to hide in the thickest leaves of the neighbouring lime. No time to even lay a finger on the camera.

There was one Peregrine on the tower, but I only got a shot from the far side of the lake before it flew away. Surprisingly it was the female. Even in this distant view you can see the clear white stripe up the side of her face. On the male it's dull grey.

After a record breeding year there are young Grey Herons all round the lake, and it's impossible to tell which nest they're from. These two were on the wire baskets at the west end of the island.

Our old friend Pigeon Eater is not the only gull who wants to eat pigeons. He's just the only one who's any good at catching them. Others try but almost always fail, such as this one at the Round Pond.

The Mallard and her six ducklings circled the pond briskly, barging past any geese or swans at the edge.

The youngest Mandarin had wandered off by itself again.

Someone had left a watermelon rind and a pair of shorts on the landing stage by the Diana fountain. A Mallard drake was not impressed.

The single Mute cygnet on the Serpentine, from a nest at the far east end as far as possible from the murderous dominant male, is growing well. It remains a mystery why only one egg hatched.

The dominant male was busy chasing some Canada Geese under the bridge.

The Black Swan was staying in the shade of the reeds at the east end of the Lido. He looked hot and bothered. His black feathers absorb more heat from the sun than the white feathers of the other swans, and it's no good telling him that in his native habitat of Western Australia he'd have much hotter weather to cope with.

A pair of Great Crested Grebes displayed to each other on the Serpentine. They have been very vague about breeding this year. They usually don't nest till summer because there aren't enough small fish for the young till then, but they really ought to have started by now.

A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee climbed out of a day lily at Peter Pan.

A Small White butterfly rested on a leaf at Mount Gate while a little insect passed over. It was moving slowly and I thought it was a hoverfly, but the picture shows a pair of hefty antennae more characteristic of a tiny bee.

Robin turning red

A young Robin in the Flower Walk was getting its first red feathers.

A younger one lurked in the shade near the bridge.

A Wren sang deep in the bushes by the Henry Moore sculpture.

A Song Thrush at Peter Pan sang a couple of phrases, but wasn't really in the mood.

The female Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was in the other chestnut tree again. She chooses a tree within sight of the nest tree so that she can keep an eye and an ear on the owlet, but not be bothered by constant begging.

A Carrion Crow at the Italian Garden trotted up looking expectant.

A young Herring Gull at the island surfaced after a dive.

A Grey Heron was fishing from the collapsed willow by the bridge.

The Canada Geese recently expelled from the Long Water by the dominant Mute Swan had come back through the bridge. There's a crowd on the Serpentine and they don't see why they shouldn't go on to the other lake.

The swan sees it differently. He and his family were advancing in a lesisurely way to chase them off. This is how cygnets learn correct swan behaviour.

The Mandarin and her three ducklings were preening on the Round Pond. The undersized one is now visibly catching up with the other two but it has a way to go.

The Mallard family was in good order but not doing anything worth photographing.

A Honeybee, Buff-Tailed Bumblebees and a Meadow Brown butterfly visited a buddleia bush near the bridge.

A Red Admiral perched on a nearby bush.

The purple loosestrife in the Italian Garden ponds was full of bumblebees.

An Emperor dragonfly was hunting by the reeds under the parapet.

Mating Black-Tailed Skimmers alighted in the long grass by the Round Pond.

Yesterday the Lancaster, probably returning from an air show on the south coast to its Lincolnshire base. paused to circle Kensington Gardens five times. I was at the far end of the park but Tom was on the spot and this is his photograph, remarkably good in spite of the heat haze.

Hobby over Kensington Gardens

A Hobby appeared high over Kensington Gardens. It had caught an unfortunate Swift.

The Hobbies seem to be nesting outside the park this year so we aren't seeing much of them, but the many dragonflies over the Round Pond attract them.

The female Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was in the old chestnut next to her nest tree.

An owlet could be heard calling from the nest tree, but as before it was in a place invisible from the ground.

Two young Magpies begged at and chased their parent around the lawn under the Henry Moore sculpture.

This is a young Robin from the pair just up the path. I only got one shot, as there was a man lumbering obliviously towards it and it had to flee.

An adult came out on a twig near the Italian Garden. They have almost stopped singing and won't start again till the autumn.

A Blackbird at Mount Gate caught a beetle.

A Jay was sunbathing near the leaf yard.

A family of Reed Warblers made a racket in the reeds east of the Lido. A parent appeared for a moment holding a fly.

A Grey Heron was fishing in the water lilies in the Italian Garden.

Another sunbathed at the Serpentine island.

The smallest Mandarin duckling was picking midges and larvae off the surface of the Round Pond. It needs all the protein it can get to catch up with the other two much larger ducklings.

Some kind people are giving it mealworms to help it along.

While the Greylag Geese are moulting and flightless, if one wants to go from the Round Pond to the Serpentine it has to walk down the Vista, a dangerous business on a sunny Sunday when the park is full of dogs.

The single white Greylag ...

... and the Bar-Headed x Greylag hybrid were safely on the edge of the Serpentine where they could retreat if danger threatened.

Common Blue Damselflies darted around over the algae in the Italian Garden fountains. A pair were mating. The female is the brownish one.

A drab coloured male Black-Tailed Skimmer dragonfly looked quite smart against the background of a rusty bit of tinplate under the Italian Garden.

A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee browsed on the blossom in a lime tree.

A father had brought his four children to the park to make model boats entirely out of available materials -- twigs, grass and waste paper -- and sail them on the Round Pond. A brilliant idea.

Peregrines reunited

Both the Peregrines were on the tower. I haven't seen them together since February and was thinking that the male's new mate had deserted him, as wilful female Peregrines often do. It's good to see them together, but a shame that the tower in the Cromwell Road where they would nest is completely covered in scaffolding, so they don't have a chance to breed this year.

A female Great Tit called nervously, disturbed by a Magpie in her tree.

On a sunny Saturday the park was very crowded, and the small birds were mostly lurking in the bushes. But here are two recent pictures by Ahmet Amerikali, of a female Blackcap at Peter Pan ...

... and a Reed Warbler in a tree east of the Lido.

With young Grey Herons from the first four nests all out, they are all over the park -- and there are still two active nests with unfledged young. A young bird fishing at the boathouse yawned. Even patient herons get bored sometimes.

The statue of William Jenner has to put up with a lot. First he was exiled from his original position in Trafalgar Square by the military lobby who said he wasn't appropriate, and now here he is covered in spider webs with a disrespectful Carrion Crow on his head.

A crow at the Round Pond was clearly exasperated by the incessant begging of its offspring.

The waves raised by a brisk wind deposit aquatic larvae on the edge of the pond, and a Pied Wagtail was trotting along picking them up, occasionally blown sideways by a gust.

The Mandarins were resting ...

... while the Mallards were charging round the edge.

The three Egyptian goslings have grown into handsome teenagers.

At the Vista, Duncan Campbell filmed a Mallard drake performing his jerky courtship display to a female, who wasn't in the least impressed by it.

When people start feeding the Canada Geese on the Serpentine they get mobbed. Luckily the ones in the park are much less aggressive than those in North America, which would charge you and knock you over.

A Comma butterfly at Mount Gate kept a firm grip on a leaf as it was blown about by the wind.

In the Rose Garden a Small White fed on a catmint flower ...

... and there was a Meadow Brown on a verbena.

The big Shasta daisies in garden are popular with bees. Most visitors are Honeybees, but the first two short clips show little bees of the Colletes genus, of which there are many similar-looking species. They are also known as 'Cellophane bees' or 'Polyester bees' because they make a plastic-like substance to line their underground nests.