Thrashing around the lake

Looking at this close-up shot of the Great Crested Grebe family from the east end of the island all seems calm ...

... but when you zoom out you can see the two-day mass swimming event on the Serpentine, which displaces all the water birds. The three families of Great Crested Grebes were crowded in at the edge. The second shot shows the chicks and a parent close to where their nest was on the edge of the island, but since then they have been far up the lake at the Lido where the fishing is better.

The single young grebe from the nest at the Dell restaurant, shown in the last shot of the video, is no longer being fed by its parents and is having to fend for itself. This is the most dangerous time for young birds, as fishing which was once play becomes a vital skill.

Looking at the spectacle of all those thrashing bodies is a reminder of just how bad humans are at swimming. Even squirrels do it better. This is an old picture taken in 2012 on the small primitive camera I had then, showing a squirrel which had fallen off a branch into the Long Water heading briskly for the shore, watched by a curious grebe.

Today's picture of one of the young Little Grebes and two Shovellers shows almost the same place opposite Peter Pan.

The Egyptian Goose family were not paticularly bothered by the event, as they stay close to the shore at Fisherman's Keep ...

... but most of the Mute Swans had to crowd on to the Long Water and the Round Pond. Here they are at the Vista ...

... with the lone cygnet. The two swans on either side of it were not its parents, and the one on the right is 4GIQ, the Black Swan's mate. The Black Swan himself was still on the Serpentine, touting for food at the Dell restaurant terrace.

The Red-Crested Pochard, Netta rufina, is originally a southern European duck, but the drakes' showy breeding plumage led to its being imported as an ornamental park bird. Since then a small feral population has established itself. In London they move around the various park lakes apparently at random, and you may see a dozen or none. All the Red-Crested Pochards in Kensington Gardens at present are drakes, but at this time of year they are in eclipse and have female-type plain brown plumage. Only their bright red bills and eyes show that they are male; in females both are dark brown. The one at the right in the thumbnail for this video is just beginning to get back to his breeding plumage with black and white sides and a big ginger bouffant head.

Pigeon Eater was preening imperturbably at the Dell restaurant.

A handsome specked Feral Pigeon rested on a ledge on the bridge.

The female Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was in almost the same place in the plane tree as where I saw her mate yesterday.

It wasn't a good day for seeing small birds, though I did get a glimpse of a Coal Tit in yew at the corner of the Dell.

Luckily here are four good shots by Ahmet Amerikali, taken yesterday. Two Goldcrests appeared in the Dell, apparently rivals ...

... and one of them flashed its bright crest at the other.

A Chiffchaff ...

... and a female Blackcap came out at the southwest corner of the bridge.

Michaelmas daisies in the Rose Garden are now the main attraction for the bees, and a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee was at work on one.