The last warm Sunday

On the last warm Sunday of the year the park was crowded and there wasn't much to see, so I'm afraid that this post will be dull. But at least the Great Crested Grebes with one chick at the bridge provided some action. The father wanted to preen, but the chick wanted to climb on his back and have a rest.

The mother chased off a Coot.

There was a family of Moorhens at the Lido, where the footpath is open again after the swimming season, with three teenagers staring to get their adult red bills.

The single cygnet on the Long Water was with a group of other Mute Swans, but keeping slightly apart from them.

A Cormorant was backlit on a post at the bridge.

Another exchanged hostile stares with a Herring Gull on a boathouse roof.

Pigeon Eater rested on the Dell restaurant roof, digesting a large lunch.

Another Lesser Black-Backed Gull was finishing his leftovers when a Magpie tried to take some. It was sent off easily enough, and the gull resumed its meal.

A Grey Heron looked for fish among the tangled branches of the collapsed willow at the bridge.

The male Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was in an awkward place and it was impossible to get an unobstructed picture.

The male Peregrine was on the barracks. Usually he takes no notice of events on the ground, but today he noticed that he was being photographed. At a height of 300 ft he wasn't worried.

A Jay waited in brown maple leaves at Temple Gate.

In the big yew tree in the Dell a Blue Tit ...

... and a Coal Tit came out for pine nuts.

In the other yew a squirrel was scolding something I couldn't see.

The fox near the Vista really seems to enjoy public attention, and the resultant snacks thrown to it.

The arbutus tree at the southeast corner of the bridge is thick with fruit, and a few were already ripe and red. It bears flowers at the same time as the fruit, which takes a year to develop and ripen.