Grebes nesting again

A female Blackcap came out on a bramble beside the Long Water. The sound of young ones begging could be heard behind her.

Several Chiffchaffs are still singing. Here is one in a treetop in the leaf yard.

A family of Greenfinches twittered high in a tree beside the Long Water. There were five, and I just managed to get three of them into one indifferent picture.

Young Carrion Crows were making a tremendous racket by the bridge.

The female Robin at Mount Gate came out for her daily ration of pine nuts.

The male Little Owl was in a lime tree at at discreet distance from the chestnuts where the owlet has been seen and heard, though I didn't get any sign of this today.

The three Grey Heron chicks were neatly grouped in the nest at the east end of the island.

The heron in the Italian Garden spends almost all of its time at the southeast pool. This has a particularly dense growth of algae, and it seems to prefer looking into the gaps and grabbing fish as they cross the small open space.

The Great Crested Grebes who nested halfway along the Serpentine island lost their first nest in unexplained circumstances -- it was probably predated. Now they are trying again in the same place, and already have one egg which the female was admiring.

They are having a proper go at it, building up the nest and mating.

The Coots nesting to the south of Peter Pan managed to bring up one chick, which is now able to look after itself, and have started again.

The two chicks under the Dell restaurant balcony rested in the nest while one parent had a wash.

The Mute Swan 4GIQ was guarding her hybrid cygnet near the bridge.

One of the Canada Geese that returns every year to moult is this one with a speckled head. It isn't a hybrid, just a Canada with an odd pattern.

One of the Red Crested Pochard drakes on the Long Water is already going into eclipse.

A Gadwall drake preened his quiet grey plumage on a post at the Vista.

A male Emperor dragonfly hunted over the Long Water under the Italian Garden.

A Cellophane Bee on a Shasta daisy in the Rose Garden was so covered in pollen that it must have had difficulty seeing its way home.