The unpredictability of owls

The male Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was in his current favourite lime tree. But just when you think an owl has settled into a habit he gets tired of the place, moves to another tree, and has to be searched for again.

The male Peregrine was on the barracks, indistinct in the dust and haze and I had to adjust the picture considerably from the vague grey original.

A young Magpie probed the bark of a tree near Mount Gate.

Two Wood Pigeons drank and splashed at the top of the waterfall in the Dell.

The adult Great Tits look very tattered after the breeding season but the young ones, now more or less adult in appearance, are immaculate.

Ahmet Amerikali got a picture of a Long-Tailed Tit behind the Lido. At least one pair nests here every year.

He also photographed a young Blackcap at the southwest corner of the bridge. Its father is still singing there, hidden deep in the bushes.

Cormorants were resting on the baskets around the island. Numbers are rising as this year's young fish are now large enough to be worth catching.

The Cormorant that fishes in the Italian Garden pools was drying its wings, ignoring people passing within a couple of feet of it.

The Grey Heron was busy as usual. David Element got a fine shot of it leaping off the kerb of a pool.

The young herons from the nest at the east end of the island, now flying around freely but still returning to the nest to be fed, seem to have taken up residence on the plastic boats moored below the nest.

The Great Crested Grebes on the Long Water have retaken their nest site from Coots that occupied it. The result coulkd go either way ...

... but the pair at the island seem well settled now ...

... and the nest under the Dell restaurant balcony should be hatching in a few days.

The much used fallen tree at Peter Pan has been occupied by Canada Geese, to the annoyance of the Coots that were raising a family there.

A pair of Red-Veined Darter dragonflies at the Round Pond, photographed by David Element.

It looks as if these will become a regular breeding species in the park, but this is by no means certain. They fly in from the European mainland, easily crossing the Channel with their powerful flight. Most of them in the park are at the Round Pond, since this is visible from the air at quite a distance, but this is a bad breeding place, much too exposed. However, they have also spread down to the Long Water, where there is floating vegetation at the edge in which they can lay their eggs.

Ahmet Amerikali captured a male Emperor in flight at the Italian Garden.

With a large range of flowers to choose from in the Rose Garden, Honeybees are still going to the little clover flowers on the lawn.