Angry Wren

A Wren in a holly tree in the Flower Walk ticked furiously at a Magpie. They spend much of their little lives shouting at Magpies.

Ahmet Amerikali found a family of Blackcaps at the southwest corner of the bridge. This is the father.

He also photographed this rather featureless bird in the same place, clearly a warbler but looking odd from the low angle. Tom thinks it's a juvenile Reed Warbler, but isn't sure.

A Jay in the same place was looking hot, but still flew out to grab a peanut from my hand.

The female Little Owlet at the Serpentine Gallery could be seen in the plane tree.

Her mother was asleep in a lime.

The returning Black-Headed Gulls are still mostly at the Round Pond. There was just one on the Long Water, and this one at the landing stage by the Diana fountain. I'm almost sure that this is the dominant gull who owns the landing stage, but he is missing some feathers on his forehead which makes his profile look odd.

A pair of Lesser Black-Backed Gulls moaned at each other at the Triangle. The male, on the left, is in his third year and won't have full adult plumage for another year. The female is an adult.

Generally the large mob of Herring Gulls on the lake perch on the boats, but it's cooler in the water and they have moved. A few Lesser Black-Backs are mixed in.

Looking at the Great Crested Grebes' stolen nest under the Dell restaurant balcony from the other side, it's possible to see two eggs.

The abandoned grebe nest at the island has been taken over by a female Mallard. She is usually accompanied by a Gadwall drake, but this is not the usual trio as the third duck, hard to see at the back, is a Tufted Drake. The picture has been photobombed by two male Common Blue Damselflies. They are everywhere, to the virtual exclusion of other kinds of damselfly.

A Coot cooled off with a vigorous wash.

The hybrid cygnet was alone on the edge by the landing stage with its mother 4GIQ some distance away in the water, preening.

The Black Swan came ashore nearer the bridge, but the attraction was the hope of being given sunflower hearts and not the welfare of his cygnet.

The Mandarin mother and her two teenagers were at the Vista.

In the place at the Triangle where the swans sometimes collect there was a crowd of Mallards resting in the shade all over the path. There was one Gadwall at far left, and at the back a Red-Crested Pochard drake in the middle of the path ...

... who objected strongly to my walking past him at a polite distance.

The urns in the Italian Garden were planted with agaves and Red Yucca, Hesperaloe parviflora, which were thought to be tough and drought tolerant. The agaves have done well but most of the others have died. However, Nature abhors a vacuum and has supplied a poppy.