Peering through the leaves

The Little Owls at the Serpentine Gallery are hard to see in the leaves of the plane tree where they are staying at the moment, but I got a reasonable view of the female owlet after a long search to find a gap in the leaves.

Returning later and searching with Julia, we got obstructed views of the male owlet with his mother preening a few feet away on the branch.

Not many Blue Tits have been visible lately, but one came out in the Flower Walk, very tattered from feeding chicks. There was also a Coal Tit singing here.

The Great Tit pair in the big yew in the Dell also reappeared after a long absence.

This is the young Robin at Mount Gate, already with red plumage but still showing a yellow edge at the base of its bill.

While Julia and I were photographing it a younger Robin, still brown and speckled, flew across the path and vanished into the bushes. So there are two nests here.

One of the young Pied Wagtails took a break from hunting midges on the roof of the boat hire building.

The other was looking for insects on the platform below.

All three young Grey Herons from the nest at the east end of the island have started exploring. They were in a bush below the nest. They can fly back when their parents arrive to feed them.

The heron in the Italian Garden got another carp.

The stark stonework of the garden is now softened by plenty of wild plants. We've already seen pictures of the clumps of pretty purple vervain around the edges of the pools and under the railings. Behind the heron are fleabane, marjoram and purple loosestrife. No doubt the gardeners will be sent in soon to lay them waste with strimmers, but meanwhile we can enjoy them.

The Great Crested Grebes remaking their nest at the island have not got far. They may not complete it.

The Coots' nest in the water lilies in the Italian Garden fountains has produced two chicks. Here they are leaving the nest, probably for the first time, and coming out to be fed on the water.

The Coots nesting at the south end of the Peter Pan waterfront have already had one brood this year, of which one chick survived. They have been having another try and this time apparently have only a single chick. Maybe these second nestings are less prolific.

The Coots' second nest on the post does have eggs, maybe three, though you can't see them here. The Coot eyed a Black-Headed Gull disapprovingly, but actually it's only the large gulls that are a threat to them.

Egyptian goslings passed the Mute Swan with her three cygnets at the boathouse.

There are hordes of Red Admiral butterflies. One perched on another unauthorised plant at Peter Pan, water mint. The gardeners' neglect brings an education in British wildflowers.

A Honeybee fed on a Verbena bonariensis flower in the Rose Garden. This is the posh cousin of the wild vervain in the Italian Garden and has bigger flowers, but they are sparse and borne on long straight stems, and in my opinion it is much less pretty.

When the female Emperor Dragonflies are laying eggs, there often seem to be Common Blue Damselflies hanging around. Do they snatch the eggs?

Dragonflies and damselflies often bask on the spikes on the railings when the iron is warmed by the sun. This is a male Black-Tailed Skimmer, the commonest dragonfly in the park.