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.

Red-Veined Darters at the Round Pond

A Wren in a tree near the Henry Moore sculpture was hopping about furiously scolding a Magpie ...

... while one of its young took no notice of the kerfuffle and searched for insects in the brambles below.

The Robins here use the railings as a lookout post for insects on the path, which they then swoop down and grab.

The Carrion Crows in the Italian Garden like to drink and bathe in the marble fountain. It has been out of order for weeks and is completely dry, but they still have the habit of going there.

The male Peregrine was back on the barracks tower, alone as usual. He had caught a pigeon and was eating it some way back from the edge of the ledge, so that he could only be seen from a distance when he looked up from his meal.

I was taking a routine picture of Pigeon Eater on the roof of the Dell restaurant ...

... when he did a lightning swoop on a table and returned with a bit of fried fish.

The dominant Mute Swan on the Long Water had just chased some Canada Geese under the bridge and followed them out, and was being horrible to them as a firm hint not to come back.

A Red-Crested Pochard drake on the Long Water came over to the Vista hoping someone would feed him.

The Mallard ducklings on the Round Pond  are now growing their wing feathers.

The smallest Mandarin duckling was off by itself as usual, though I did see it with the family later.

I met David Element by the pond, looking for Red-Veined Darter dragonflies, of which he found no fewer than twelve. He sent this fine shot of one on a grass stem showing off its wings to advantage.

I got a more ordinary shot of one on the ground.

There were plenty of Red-Eyed Damselflies on the algae in the Italian Garden ponds.

Black-Tailed Skimmer dragonflies mated on the roof of a boathouse in a stiff breeze, with the male clinging firmly to a patch of moss to avoid being blown away.

Behind the Serpentine Lodge a Meadow Brown butterfly was feeding on a knapweed flower ...

... when it was rudely knocked off by a Honeybee.

Hoverflies were sunlit against the dark hedge of the lodge garden. I think this is a Common Drone Fly, Eristalis tenax, but the lighting is so extreme that it's hard to tell.