Breeding Blackbirds

A male Blackbird by the Round Pond was collecting insects for his nestlings.

A young one at Mount Gate was already independent and digging in the leaf litter under a tree. It found a small larva.

The local Robins were waiting on the railings.

The young Pied Wagtail beside the Serpentine was being fed by its father.

The dominant Black-Headed Gull had just returned from patrolling his territory and stood complacently on the landing stage.

A young gull touched down on a post at Peter Pan.

A Grey Heron kept a lookout from a dead tree near the Italian Garden.

A flock of Cormorants passed high overhead.

The Tufted Duck family can only be glimpsed occasionally under the bushes bordering the Long Water. I could see five ducklings, diving vigorously.

Gadwalls are the quietest and most well mannered of ducks, and hardly ever lose their cool. But these ones at the Vista were getting slightly excited about something.

The little Mandarin on the Round Pond was in its usual place on the gravel strip. Julia told me that it had recently been visited by its mother and one of the larger ducklings. It looks as if it will be going down to the Long Water soon.

The Egyptian family seems to be down to three goslings. They were by the Serpentine island.

An old female Emperor dragonfly, now with quite male colours, laid eggs on a twig by the bridge.

In the Rose Garden a Honeybee was having trouble climbing over the spiky flower of a cardoon.

Another was having an easier time on a gazania ...

... and there was a Greenbottle fly on another flower.

A well camoulaged moth landed on a post. I was far from sure what it is, but Conehead 54 has identified it as a Small Ranunculus, Hecatera dysodea.

Hungry young birds

A young Pied Wagtail beside the Serpentine chased its father, wagging its tail frantically, and eventually got fed.

A young Magpie was also begging constantly at a parent in a hornbeam tree.

Young Reed Warblers have been calling in the reeds at the southwest corner of the bridge, and one was briefly visible.

The younger of the two male Chaffinches followed me from the Flower Walk to the Round Pond.

Robins appeared all along the Flower Walk.

The Wren from the yew hedge perched on the railings. Evidently it had been raiding a spider's web.

Pigeon Eater flew up on to the Dell restaurant roof after an unsuccessful attempt to grab a Feral Pigeon in midair. Pigeons are faster and more agile than he is, and he knows perfectly well that he can't catch one in flight, but he can't resist having a go.

The large number of young Grey Herons around the island is causing frequent confrontations.

Jon Ferguson found a Little Grebe with four chicks on the Grand Union Canal at Brentford and got a picture on his phone.

Several years ago I saw Little Grebes on the canal at Kensal Green. Common Terns also come to fish in this unpromising stretch of water.

The Egyptian Geese by the bridge still have eight goslings. They'd be safer from gulls on the other side of the bridge, but probably the killer swan would chase them back.

The isabel Greylag was resting near the Lido.

The Mandarin duckling on the Round Pond is now usually on the gravel strip. Its wings are growing well.

Let's hope that when it can fly, its mother remembers to visit it and guide it down to the Long Water to be with the rest of the family. She has already visited at least once.

Good news from Virginia, who saw the Tufted ducklings on the Long Water yesterday, and there are still nine of them. One is very undersized.

There must have been two families, one here and the other on the Serpentine with just two ducklings. I didn't see the latter today, or the two Mallard ducklings, and fear that the gulls have had them. 

Virginia also sent a very odd picture of a yellow pigeon. This colour can't be natural.

There is or was a woman who comes to the park with pigeons dyed in gaudy colours and charges people to photograph them.  I haven't seen her since 2019. But it looks as if one of them escaped on a recent visit and is still around, and probably the other colours have faded but the yellow is more durable.

The foxes on the lawn by the Henry Moore sculpture are now almost always out, and seem likely to stay until the end of the warm weather.

A Small White butterfly fed on a clump of verbena in the Rose Garden ...

... and there was a very tattered Red Admiral on a Japanese anemone near Pter Pan.

Much needed rain

Torrential rain in the morning finally slackened off, and a horde of Great Tit emerged in the Flower Walk to collect pine nuts.

The rain had softened the ground and worms were available again, so there were Robins everywhere. One had a bath in a puddle on the path beside the Long Water.

This is one of the parents at Mount Gate ...

... and its offspring which had just pulled up a worm. I don't know how these very small birds manage it.

Another young Robin looked down from a tree by the Steiner bench ...

... and an adult, maybe its parent, perched on a fallen tree trunk a few yards up the path.

The young Blackbird in the Flower Walk has been heard begging in the shrubbery for several days, but this is the first time I've seen it.

A Wood Pigeon soaked by the rain dried and preened on a branch.

A Grey Heron stretched a wing on a dead tree beside the Long Water.

Pigeon Eater had had his lunch and flown off, and another Lesser Black-Backed Gull was finishing off the remains.

The latest family of Egyptian Geese on the Serpentine still have nine goslings.

The Mute Swan with a single cygnet came to the edge looking hopeful.

The Mandarin duckling at the Round Pond was on the gravel strip. It's grown amazingly in the past two weeks.

A fox looked out from the railings near the Henry Moore sculpture ...

... then trotted along to join the vixen on the lawn.

She got bored with people pointing cameras at her.

A sunny spell in the afternoon brought out Honeybees on different coloured cosmos flowers at Peter Pan.

Pochard ducklings

A Common Pochard has brought out six ducklings in the reeds under the Italian Garden. This is the first time I've seen one breeding in the park, though records show that they have in the last century. Pochards are in serious decline nationally, but numbers in the park have been increasing.

The smallest Mandarin duckling was preening on the gravel strip. After a very slow start it's now growing well and its flight feathers are appearing. It should be airworthy soon.

An Egyptian Goose has produced nine goslings, which as you can see are already a few days old but hadn't been seen before. It was moving around: this picture shows it on the Serpentine side of the bridge, but earlier it was at the Vista.

The dominant Mute Swan was driving Canada Geese under the bridge. It doesn't need to attack them: as soon as they see the fearsome bird approaching they retreat.

A Great Crested Grebe waved a bit of weed at its mate, a hopeful sign that they might finally get around to nesting. This was just on the Serpentine side of the bridge, but the pair are also often on the Long Water and there are two good nest sites just the other side.

One of this year's many young Grey Herons preened on a post at the Serpentine island.

In the brambles north of Peter Pan, a Blackcap gave a bit of blackberry to a fledgling. Really this fully grown bird should be able to pick its own blackberries by now.

One of the Coal Tits in the Flower Walk was waiting to collect a pine nut. They remain very camera shy and it was annoyed by being photgraphed, but recovered after a couple of minutes and came to my hand.

A Wood Pigeon sunbathed in a flower bed below.

Both the Robins at Mount Gate came out. After nesting and feeding young this one has lost some feathers including its tail ...

... but the other one is in a far tattier state. Luckily they will have new feathers before the cold weather sets in.

The familiar Jackdaw at the Henry Moore sculpture trotted up expectantly.

The marble fountain in the Italian Garden, broken for months, is working again. The local Carrion Crows are pleased because they like to drink and bathe there.

After several days of failure I managed to find a Small Red-Eyed Damselfly on the algae in the Italian Garden.

Here is a (large) Red-Eyed Damselfly for comparison. Not the simpler markings on the tip of the abdomen. Usually the Small species has lighter red eyes, about tomato colour, but the eyes of the one in the previous picture seemed quite dark.

A Common Blue butterfly managed to extract some nectar from a dead flower at the back of the Lido.

There are some really gaudy summer flowers for the bees to browse on. A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee was in a Peruvian lily near the Lido restaurant ...

... and this Honeybee was in a gazania in the Rose Garden.