The elusive Wren

A Wren lives in a yew hedge in the Flower Walk, generally staying deep inside. But occasionally it comes out on top, and today it appeared for a moment in a patch of sunlight.

The nearby Robin is still very nervous, and watched the Great Tits feeding from my hand for several minutes before it came over ...

... but every time I go past Mount Gate the Robin here is waiting on the railings.

A Coal Tit in the Dell was also suspicious, but pine nuts on the railings were irresistible. Coal Tits' tree of choice is the Stone Pine that produces these seeds, a familiar sight in the Italian countryside but I don't think there are any of this species in the park.

A pair of Carrion Crows rummaged in fallen leaves under the big ash at the corner of the Dell.

If you leave your picnic unattended for a moment you get uninvited guests.

Dongze Li took a pleasing photograph of one of the Little Owls in Hyde Park.

The two boss Black-Headed Gulls on the Serpentine are the Czech visitor at the east end ...

... and the one on the landing stage by the Diana fountain at the west end. Both clear a wide area around them, squeezing the other gulls into the middle of the lake.

The Great Crested Grebe chicks at the east end of the Serpentine island and the single chick from the Dell restaurant were visited by parents bringing fish.

One of the chicks from the west end was also being fed. They were by the plastic buoys surrounding the Lido swimming area.

The single Coot chick on the Serpentine, probably the only survivor of a large brood, is always out in the open but has so far managed to avoid being snatched by a Herring Gull.

There was an outbreak of aggression among the Mute Swans.

The lone cygnet, which had been by itself at Fisherman's Keep ...

... saw its parents by the Dell restaurant terrace and quickly went over for protection.

Migrant Hawker dragonflies are still flying around the Long Water ...

... and there were four Common Darters basking on the warm iron railings of the Dell. A male and a female perched on adjacent spikes.

A Green-Veined White butterfly fed on a Lantana flower in the Rose Garden.

Robins everywhere

A Robin sang quietly among rose hips in the Rose Garden.

Singing when the other small birds have shut up, they are far the most noticeable species in the park, and despite the crowds on a warm Sunday they could be seen all over the place. This one was singing in a buckthorn tree by the Italian Garden ...

... and of course the usual one at Mount Gate came out for pine nuts.

Jays are not much seen at the moment. Acorns are beginning to ripen and they are collecting and burying them. This one by the Henry Moore sculpture was in a yew tree eating the fruit, but it was right next to an oak and would have gone back to work after its meal.

A Starling at the Lido restaurant grabbed a bit of bread ...

... starting a fight.

Pigeon Eater seems to tolerate the Herring Gull pair often seen on the Dell restaurant roof, perhaps because the two are always together.

The Peregrine is being most uncooperative. He was on the tower several times but always when I was a long way off.

The wooden posts around the Serpentine island are crowded with Cormorants and Grey Herons, so some of them are having to stand on the wire baskets of water plants. The original ornamental plants in these floating baskets died quickly, and they are gradually filling up with naturally seeded purple loosestrife, great willowherb and grass, which looks perfectly pleasing.

Ahmet Amerikali got a picture of a Cormorant catching a fair-sized perch.

The Great Crested Grebes with a single large chick were by the lake outflow.

The single Coot chick was still around, always in the same place east of the Lido.

Another picture by Ahmet, a Tufted drake flying over the Serpentine.

A view down the Long Water from the Italian Garden, with the male Egyptian Goose whose mate is nesting in a nearby tree.

A dark sunflower in the Rose Garden was keeping a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee occupied ...

... and a Common Carder visited the blue ground convolvulus in the Dell.

I think this moth in the grass near the Queen's Temple is a Satin Grass Moth, Crambus perlella, but there are lots of species of pale narrow grass moths and I may well be wrong.

A fallen tree trunk near the Buck Hill shelter produces growth after growth of Dog Vomit Slime Mould, Fuligo septica, which despite its horrible name is a pretty lemon yellow. It fades and dries up in a few days and is quickly succeeded by another patch.

Uneasy neighbours

A Robin and a Great Tit accidentally landed on the same twig in the Flower Walk and looked at each other suspiciously.

A Coal Tit appeared on a treetop in the Dell.

Ahmet Amerikali found a Carrion Crow eating a rat.

The Peregrines haven't been resting on the barracks tower for a while, but as I was going home through Mount Gate I saw one there very distantly. Even from 600 yards away you can tell it's the male from the dingy colour of the stripe on the side of his face.

Pigeon Eater was on the Dell restuarant roof with his offspring. He looked at it severely, as if to say 'One squeak out of you and you're off.'

The Czech Black-Headed Gull, an equally bossy bird on a smaller scale, had cleared all rivals from his stretch of shore and stood complacently on the edge.

The Grey Heron at the Lido restaurant stalked along the edge of the terrace, looking through the planters to see if anyone was going to give it a bit of pizza or a chip.

The Great Crested Grebe pair on the Long Water were fishing together at the Vista.

Another picture by Ahmet: a grebe on the Serpentine caught a large ruffe.

Two young Moorhens were at the Vista, two by the Serpentine island, and two on the Coot nest under the Dell restaurant balcony (which was later used successfully by the grebes which now have one large chick).

The lone Mute cygnet was at the Serpentine outflow by itself. It's an independent young bird, unlike the six teenage cygnets which are still sticking to their parents.

Swans are particularly fond of willow leaves. It has been suggested that swans are so furious because they have a perpetual headache, which the salicylic adid in the leaves (which is the basic substance in aspirin) alleviates. More likely, the leaves just taste good to swans. I tried chewing one and it was not very interesting.

Female and male Common Darter dragonflies enjoyed the warmth of iron railings in the sunlight on the edge of the Dell. Males are red, but females can be various shades of dull reddish, yellow or brown.

Ahmet got a picture of a pair mating.

There are still some Willow Emerald damselflies. This one near the Vista is male, longer and thinner than the female.

A Common Carder bee fed on a Lantana flower in a pot at the Lido restaurant.

A Speckled Wood butterfly rested on a dead leaf behind the Queen's Temple. They are seen over a very long period, as they can overwinter as either a larva or a pupa and so appear at different times.

A Broadleaf Lime near the Speke obelisk had strange projections on the leaves. A web search revealed that they are Lime Nail Galls, caused by infestation of microscopic gall mites, Eriophytes tiliae or E.lateannulatus. They are not particularly harmful to the tree.

Indian summer

Warm weather has returned, at least for a few days. A Wood Pigeon sunbathed in the Flower Walk ...

... and a Greylag Goose came to join some Egyptians in the shade of a tree.

A Robin looked out nervously from a bush in the Rose Garden. The small birds here aren't fed by many people and haven't got into the habit ...

... while the tatty Robin at Mount Gate has no such inhibitions.

A young Herring Gull played with a feather ...

... and a Black-Headed Gull had a leaf. Adults play with toys too, though not as much as young gulls.

The Great Crested Grebe chicks at the west end of the island dived beside their parents. Soon they will start following them underwater when they are fishing, and in this way will learn the hunting skills that very grebe needs.

The single large chick is no longer allowed to ride on its parent's back, and has to do its own swimming now. It was having a preen.

A Cormorant fished around the Coot nest at the bridge, driving away the Coot, and then moved on to annoy the Mute Swan family.

The lone cygnet was with both its parents. Evidently they had seen the killer swan and his family on the Serpentine side of the bridge, and moved in to protect it.

The single Coot chick was on the edge eating algae.

A Common Wasp had killed a bee on a mimosa leaf in the Dell. The victim was too battered to tell what its species was.

The hemp agrimony in the Dell has almost stopped flowering but there was enough to attract a Green-Veined White butterfly, adding to the remarkable number of species that have visited this plant.

There are plenty of other flowers to feed on. The stonecrop in the Rose Garden is in full bloom and was full of Buff-Tailed Bumblebees ...

... and there were Common Carders on the Michaelmas daisies.

Ahmet Amerikali was in Southwark Park, where he found a Goldcrest in a cedar ...

... a young Grey Wagtail in a puddle ...

... and a Little Grebe swimming through a patch of duckweed.