Ding dong gull

Young Herring Gulls love to play with things they find, and this one was absolutely delighted to haul up a small brass bell which had somehow fallen into the lake. It played with it for several minutes and then flew away carrying it.

The Robin by the Buck Hill shelter is usually very camera shy, but today it allowed itself to be filmed singing in a bush.

The Magpie pair were in a hawthorn on the other side of the path.

The female Chaffinch in the Flower Walk flew out several times to catch pine nuts thrown in the air.

Long-Tailed Tits gathered in a tree at the edge of the Vista before crossing the gap in a flock for safety.

There was certainly danger about. Starlings fled from a Sparrowhawk over the Serpentine.

The Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery looked out between the leaves.

One of the young Great Crested Grebes from the east end of the island was fishing busily. They must be catching fish, and indeed this one or its sibling has been seen with one, but it's taking the inexpert young birds much longer to get one than it would for an adult.

The slightly older one at the north end of the Long Water seems satisfied with the fishing in the reed beds, because it hasn't moved away from there since it mysteriously arrived several days ago.

Cormorants are not often seen in the Italian Garden pools, which they have more or less fished out apart from the older carp which are too large for them, but today one visited and caught a small carp. It dried its wings on the kerb, ignoring the Sunday visitors.

Canada Geese massed on the gravel strip opposite the Vista.

Ahmet Amerikali got a good shot of a Greylag in flight yesterday when it was sunny.

The smallest young Egyptian Goose remains half the weight of its siblings, but it has grown an impressive set of flight feathers.

The Huntress fountain in the Rose Garden has broken down yet again but is still the base of a pair of Egyptians.

The Black Swan and 4GIQ were in their usual place at the southeast corner of the bridge, again accompanied by the young Grey Heron. On 9 September I photographed the pair at the Vista, and what I am almost sure was the very same heron was with them.

On a rather chilly day there were few insects about, but Buff-Tailed Bumblebees are hardy creatures and there was one feeding on a clump of baby sage in the Rose Garden. I've photographed these bees here in every month of the year.