The Little Owls' quiet place

When owls have young they often retreat to a nearby tree to avoid being bothered by them. I knew from previous years that the Little Owls at the Serpentine Gallery liked a particular lime tree, and have been checking it. Today the female could be seen on a branch.

A young Robin in the Flower Walk ...

... noticed that its parent was carrying food.

The young Great Tits are all independent now and their insistent begging has ceased. The parents, tattered and exhausted, can relax for another year.

The Blackbirds between the Queen's Temple and the Round Pond have also been feeding young. The male was under a lime tree and seemed quite unhurried, so maybe his fledglings are independent too. I haven't seen or heard them and don't know where the nest is.

A Pied Wagtail at the Round Pond looked suspiciously at the camera.

It was windy and the three Mandarin ducklings were sheltering in the lee of their mother on the gravel strip. All were having a preen.

The Mallards were circling the pond briskly.

Greylag Geese saw a dog in the distance and quickly trotted to the edge of the water. They're moulting and flightless and have to be very careful.

The three small Egyptian Geese are getting their wing feathers.

I thought that two of the six newest Coot chicks in the Italian Garden fountains were gone, but they were just hiding in the planters and today they were all out chasing their parents.

The Coot on the nest at the bridge stood up and turned round  before settling back down on the eggs. This nest has almost no chance of success, with Herring Gulls perching on the nearby posts.

The Mute Swan at the landing stage, still sitting on dud eggs after two months, has to realise soon that it's hopeless. The one at the Lido restaurant terrace has now given up.

A rat looked out from the railings near the Steiner bench beside the Long Water. This is where people feed the Rose-Ringed Parakeets, and the rats have grown fat and sleek on the spillages. They can scare off the squirrels in spite of being smaller.

On 1 June there was a report of a Red-Veined Darter dragonfly at the Round Pond, and I've been looking for it ever since. The day before yesterday I saw something red speeding away over the water, too distant to identify. Today one obligingly settled for a few seconds on the path. The gravel rolled into the tarmac doesn't make a good background, but dragonflies like sun-warmed gravel so that's where you often find them.

A Common Blue Damselfly at Peter Pan preferred a warm iron chain. You can see from the very light rusting on this old chain that it's made of wrought iron. Steel would have crumbled away by now.

There used to be a long stretch of orange day lilies on the edge of the reed bed by the Diana fountain, but the spreading reeds have taken over and only a few flowers are left. One of them had a small hoverfly in it. When I was photographing it, I thought from its alternate thick and thin black stripes that it was a Marmalade Fly, but the pattern seems too light and simple and I don't know what it is.

Two Comma butterflies were chasing each other at Mount Gate. One settled on a hypericum bud and gave a good impression of a withered dead leaf.