Sorting out the owl confusion

News from Neil: he saw the female Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery, so both the pair are all right. He also heard an owlet hissing. So the dead owl found here must have been another owlet -- it was fully grown but by the time I got to it the Carrion Crows had eaten some of it so it was unidentifiable.

I went to the chestnut tree, where the male owl took one look at me and flew into hiding, so no picture. And there was nothing to be seen in the hornbeam where the female often sits, and no sound of an owlet.

So I came back later in the afternoon, and almost immediately there was a furious cry and the female owl shot out to attack a Carrion Crow which was standing under the nest tree. The crow fled, and she stood under the tree for a moment in the classic Athenian coin pose, glaring with fury. No wonder the Athenians represented their owl with exaggerated eyes.

Then there was a hiss from the nest tree, and there was an owlet. It saw me the moment I saw it and flew away, and all I could get was a blurred shot as it launched itself from the branch.

A young Starling exploring one of the giant flower pots at the Lido restaurant discovered that pansy petals are delicious.

A young Great Tit in the Rose Garden came to my hand for a pine nut and ate it on a twig.

A Carrion Crow in the Italian Garden found and ate several caterpillars.

A Feral Pigeon basked in the warm sunshine at the Vista.

A Grey Heron reclined on a wire basket at the island. It had made the place more comfortable by pulling down some strands of grass.

The two pairs of Coots with nests on the waterfront by the statue of Peter Pan had a furious fight. It lasted several minutes, so here are two excerpts.

The Coot in the hopeless nest on the open edge of the Serpentine is still there after more than two weeks. There is no sign of a mate and it just seems to be a place for the Coot to rest.

The white Greylag Goose which has come to the Serpentine to moult has a normal grey mate.

Most of the many Egyptian Geese on the Serpentine are moulting, though they are by no means as synchronised as the big geese. This one is regrowing its primary feathers, emerging in their blue protective casing.

The big blond male already has a fine new set of pale grey flight feathers.

The six Mallard duckling on the Round Pond are quiet and obedient, and the family is guarded by the drake. The three Mandarin ducklings are restless and unruly, and the drake plays no part in the proceedings -- he's down on the Long Water with another female.

A shower in the morning topped up the swamp east of the Dell, and the local pair of Mallards were enjoying splashing about on it.

We really do seem to have a permanent population of Gadwalls now. Eleven could be seen at the Vista, and there was a line of them on the posts.

A fox wandered on to the lawn under the Henry Moore sculpture. It wasn't bothered by the people looking at it, but when a Carrion Crow started yelling at it, off it trotted.

In the Rose Garden a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee browsed on a lilac sage flower.

The catmint plant is flowering and was full of Honeybees.

I met a cat owner here who was taking her cat for a walk on a lead, though it didn't look happy with the arrangement. So I pointed out this plant and wondered if the cat would enjoy it as they are supposed to. The cat was completely indifferent. Evidently it's the wrong kind: PlantNet says it's Persian Catmint, Nepeta raemosa, rather than the ordinary N. cataria.