It was a chilly and windy day but the female Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was sticking it out in her lime tree. Later she moved to a more sheltered spot next to the trunk.
A Jay waited for service in an American oak by the Vista. Several species are planted in Kensington Gardens for the benefit of their bright autumn leaves.
The Pied Wagtail at the Dell restaurant was hunting busily in autumn leaves.
The faithful Robin at the southwest corner of the bridge came out to take pine nuts ...
... and a Great Tit posed among holly berries.
Two Blue Tits appeared in the yew in the Dell ...
... and the female Coal Tit bounced about impatiently waiting for me to put pine nuts on the railings.
A teenage Great Crested Grebe rested beside its father on the Long Water in a rare moment of calm.
The two young grebes are beginning to fish for themselves, though I haven't seen them catch anything yet. This was shot looking down from the bridge as they dived among the wire baskets filled with twigs that act as a fish hatchery.
However, when an adult appears with a fish there's a mad squeaking rush to grab it. Their father dodged the pushier one of the two, which would get all the fish if not evaded, and gave it to the other. Then he chased the pushy one off as a warning to behave.
The family from the north side of the island, which had for some time been fishing near the Lido, have returned to the island. No doubt the good fishing spots change and the grebes move with them.
A group of Mute Swans came hastily under the bridge on to the Serpentine, and then the Black Swan appeared through another arch. It seems that 4HDW is settling into his role as undisputed boss of the Long Water.
The new Egyptian Goose family were grazing on the rich grass in the Diana fountain enclosure. It's a relatively safe place, as no dogs are allowed in and there are few Herring Gulls, but even so they have lost one gosling since yesterday and are down to six.
A Shoveller drake halfway into his breeding plumage dabbled, shovelled and preened on the Serpentine.
A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee in the Rose Garden tired of the Michaelmas daisies and investigated a single Variegated Monkshood plant left over from the previous arrangement of that flower bed.
Grass is starting to grow on top of the Henry Moore sculpture, rooted in the copious droppings left by birds perching there.
Another exotic flower in the bed at the bandstand lavatory, an Angel's Trumpet, Brugmansia candida.
The one that got away, speeding over the Serpentine in the strong wind.














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