As I suspected, there really is at least one Great Crested Grebe chick in the nest at the island, but you have to look closely here to see any sign of it on its father's back. There is a slight stirring of feathers at the beginning of this clip, and at the end the chick pokes its head out for a moment. With luck we should get better views later.
The pair from the east end of the island were not far away. The mother dumped the two chicks in the water for them to climb on to their father while she went fishing.
The grebes with a sigle chick had crossed the lake and were at the boat hire platform. All these pairs are quite close together and there will probably be territorial disputes soon.
In past years there has been a Moorhens' nest in a well hidden spot quite high up in the willow tree at the bridge. Earlier this year that part of the tree collapsed into the lake and it seemed that would be the end of the nest. But the Moorhens have carried on as usual, and here are two of their three chicks in the ruin of the tree.
The Ruddy Shelduck is a native of eastern Europe, Asia and North Africa. Any birds seen in the wild are the descendants of captive birds in collections, and they only turn up occasionally. Jon Ferguson found this one on the Thames at Twickenham.
As you can see, it looks quite like an Egyptian Goose, to which it is related. These birds are intermediate between ducks and geese, so their common names are haphazard.
On a hot afternoon an Egyptian Goose kept cool under the fountain on the edge of the Italian Garden.
The nesting raft wrecked by the Black Swan and 4GIQ is sinking at one end, but still provides a place for a pair of Egyptians and a Greylag to stand.
Canada Geese came under the bridge on to the Long Water in a cautious crowd, but the new boss Mute Swan 4HDW is a better tempered bird than the old one, who would have attacked them at once.
A Cormorant at the island played with a ginger Egyptian feather it had found.
A challneging stare from the Czech Black-Headed Gull on the old water level at Fisherman's Keep.
The young Lesser Black-Back that may be Pigeon Eater's offspring was mewling pathetically. It was ignored, it's quite old enough to feed itself.
There are two Grey Herons at the Italian Garden. One occupies the garden itself, and is seen here stalking past a patch of purple loosestrife ...
... and the other fishes around the reed beds on the lake below. If it tries to come up into the garden, where the fishing is better, it gets chased away.
There are still a few Emperor dragonflies over the water here.
Jut one Little owlet could be seen at the Serpentine Gallery, the male.
The female Peregrine was on the barracks tower again. Possibly this pair is actually the same as the one with young seen on the Imperial College bell tower, and they have returned to the barracks after throwing out their offspring.
The female Robin came out at Mount Gate.
A flock of Blue Tits was working through the trees at the northwest corner of the bridge. This is a young one, still grey rather than blue, but now independent and busily looking for larvae on the leaves.
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