Wasp attack

The female Little owlet at the Serpentine Gallery, dozing in a lime tree, woke up for long enough to look at me with one eye, decided I wasn't a threat, and went back to sleep.

The female Peregrine was alone on the barracks tower. Usually when there's just one here it's the male, but you can see the clear white patch on the side of her face. On the male it's dirty grey.

There weren't many small birds on show, but the usual Great Tits came out for pine nuts. This one was in the Dell.

The Grey Heron at the Italian Garden stared at a gap in the algae, waiting for a fish to appear at the edge.

A Great Crested Grebe chick by the boat hire platform climbed aboard its mother by swimming against her, causing her to revolve, and using its wings as front legs. It isn't an efficient method, but it got up somehow. Meanwhile the father brought a small fish to the other chick.

However, there is no sign of progress on the nest on the island, and it's looking increasing as if the eggs are infertile.

Shown at quarter speed, a Moorhen clenched the toes on its big foot when moving it forward to avoid catching them on the other leg, and swam with an underwater bicycling action.

The Coot chicks in the southwest pool in the Italian Garden enjoyed playing on the duckboard.

The three Mute cygnets were at the boathouse. One examined a patch of moss on the wall.

A Grey Squirrel dug in a flowerbed in the Flower Walk, looking for bulbs planted for next spring.

A Black-Tailed Skimmer dragonfly had caught a Greenbottle fly in the air, and perched for a moment on a bench while eating it.

There are still plenty of Emperor dragonflies around the Italian Garden.

A pair of Willow Emerald damselflies hung from a bramble near the Vista. In this species females are noticeably shorter and thicker than males.

Common Blue damselflies laid eggs in the water at Peter Pan.

While I was photographing a Painted Lady butterfly feeding on a strawflower in the Rose Garden ...

... there was a struggle on the next flower. A wasp was attacking a Honeybee. I can't identify this white-faced wasp. It flew off carrying the bee.

 

Later: David Element explained, 'Your photograph is of a female Bee-wolf Philanthus triangulum with a Honeybee that she is in the process of paralysing. The bee, expertly captured while feeding, would then have been taken as provisions for one of her offspring and dragged into her nest hole in the ground. This solitary digger wasp nests in loose aggregations, often in sandy habitats. Protective plates prevent the Honey Bee from stinging in retaliation, and the wasp will sometimes feed on the bee's regurgitated (final!) meal whilst the sting takes effect. As solitary bees face far too much competition for food from domesticated hive bees, this predation will help to tip the balance in their favour.'

A Honeybee browsed peacefully on a gypsywort flower in the baskets of mixed water plants at the Triangle.

A clump of Cardoons in the Flower Walk. These tall and handsome plants are halfway between a thistle and a globe artichoke, and are edible though not very good. They were a staple food during the severe Persian famine of 1917-19 caused by the fighting in the First World War.