Pestering Mrs Pigeon Eater

You don't see nearly as many Blue Tits in the park as Great Tits. But in fact they are quite numerous and go around in flocks. There were at least 40 moving through the trees at the northwest corner of the bridge, together with a few Long-Tailed Tits. This is a young one, still grey and green.

There was also a Wren, but I don't think it was with the flock.

A Chiffchaff called from a tree near the Buck Hill shelter and there was a brief glimpse of it jumping about in the leaves.

A Jay hunted in the long grass on Buck Hill, which is full of grasshoppers and crickets.

Viewed from across the lake, the concrete top of the Knightsbridge Barracks was surrounded by House Martins. Any wind creates a strong updraught and they like to play in it. There must also be insects to eat at this height, as you often see hirundines of various species hunting 300 feet up.

Two young Lesser Black-Backed Gulls on the Dell restaurant roof were probably the offspring of the Pigeon Eater pair. Their mother ignored their whining, as they were old enough to feed themselves, but one of them became so insistent that it pushed her off the roof.

The dominant Black-Headed Gull was in his usual place on the landing stage.

But having taken this picture I stopped paying attention for a moment and missed a shot of him being chased by a Moorhen. He isn't invincible.

The Grey Heron chicks on the island were restlessly moving around their nest.

All was peaceful on the Great Crested Grebes' nest below.

The grebes at the landing stage were adding algae to their nest. It's a good solid structure built up from the bottom in open water, made by Coots and simply taken over by the grebes. They couldn't have built anything like that themselves.

The Coots' nest on the chain at the bridge has almost vanished. Probably some idiot ran a boat into it. It's sad for the Coots, but in fact they had absolutely no chance of bringing up chicks in the middle of a line of posts with gulls perching on them.

The lone Mute cygnet on the Serpentine was preening at the edge, with its mother out on the lake but still keeping an eye on it.

The Egyptian Goose on the other side still has three goslings. She led them out of the lake and across the road to graze. She soon had to call them back to the water when someone arrived with a dog.

Most of the moulting Greylags are now flying again, and some arrived from the lake to splash down on the Round Pond.

The Bar-Headed x Greylag hybrid had also come up.

The little Mandarin was cropping algae off the edge.

A Jersey Tiger Moth landed on a leaf at the northwest corner of the bridge.