Sheltering in the leaves

On a very hot day most of the small birds were sheltering in the bushes, but a Blue Tit came out in the Flower Walk to take a pine nut.

The young Robin at Mount Gate was the only member of the family to appear. They can find water at the Bulgarian drinking fountain a few yards away, which conveniently has a blocked drain so that a puddle forms under it where they can bathe.

A young Blackbird foraged in the bushes in the Flower Walk, beside what looks like the discarded egg of a larger bird. There is a bird bath in the Flower Walk which is regularly filled, and a drinking fountain for dogs with a convenient basin at ground level.

A Jay perched in the shade of the leaves before flying out to grab a peanut from my fingers. I'm sure they enjoy this demonstration of flying skill.

The female Little owlet at the Serpentine Gallery was in a skittish mood, and flew round to the other side of the plane tree as soon as I saw her. I followed and got a hasty shot before she fled into the chestnut tree and disappeared.

Julia sent two excellent videos. Swifts whizzed around a nest, maybe several, in gaps in the brickwork of an old house.

Two young Robins visited a gravestone in Fulham Cemetery.

The was a clattering of Grey Heron chicks begging in the fifth nest on the island, high in a treetop and almost impossible to see from the shore. I got a very sketchy picture of parts of two of them, and that's all we're going to see till they start climbing out.

The Great Crested Grebes at the island have made a sudden and unexpected effort and built a nest which is just good enough to mate on, but you don't expect fancy nests from these birds.  This is their third try this year, so let's hope they finally succeed.

At the east end of the island rivals were having a confrontation. One gave way and turned to leave, and was chased off.

There were two pairs of Coots with single chicks at Peter Pan, both from second nests, so it does seem true that they are less fertile the second time. These are from the nest south of the waterfront ...

... and these at the end of the fallen tree are from a nest on the other side of the lake.

The duckboards in the Italian Garden fountains are never used by ducks or any other birds as a way of getting in or out, but they do provide a convenient place to stand when preening.

For the last few days the Black Swan has been going about by himself and ignoring his Mute mate. Both seem depressed at their failure. But when he saw me he hurried over for some sunflower hearts.

The resident pair of Egyptian Geese cooled off under the marble fountain on the edge of the Italian Garden.

A female Pochard at the Vista gave the camera a quizzical look.

Little mauve convolvulus flowers at the corner of the Dell are popular with Honeybees.

As male Black-Tailed Skimmer dragonflies age they lose their powdery blue 'pruination' and become very drab. With most species it's the male that is showy and the female drab but here it's the other way around, with dull blue-grey males and beautiful yellow and black females.

Deceitful Wren

A pair of Wrens in the Flower Walk have a late nest, perhaps a second try after losing a brood. One appeared on a branch carrying a mixed bag of insects.

I could hear the young one calling in a hedge. The parent was keen to hide where the nest was, so it moved to a branch some distance away, scolding loudly, and then flew off to disappear into the bushes on the far side of the path as if going to a nest there.

The female Little Owl could be seen in the nest tree, though only from a distance ...

... and it was the same with her daughter in the plane tree.

The young Robin at Mount Gate is now a regular customer for pine nuts. Its probable parents could also be seen, but not the younger fledgling.

A tatty Magpie perched on an arch at the bridge.

Ahmet Amerikali was at the east end of the Lido when a Reed Warbler came out of a tree, was surprised to see him, and almost lost its footing on the twig.

Black-Headed Gulls ar now returning in larger numbers, and there were groups on the fallen trees in the Long Water ...

... and on the posts at Peter Pan, making the shot that all the tourists take.

Another picture by Ahmet, a Little Grebe on the Serpentine going to the island. I've seen them there occasionally, but they soon go back to the Long Water where there is more cover.

The Great Crested Grebes at the island were resting by their incomplete (well, barely begun) new nest, showing no signs of wanting to get on with the job ...

... but the grebe at the Dell restaurant looked comfortable in the shade of the balcony.

A Coot on the oppsite shore had a brisk wash and flap before preening.

In hot weather there is less oxygen dissolved in the water, and the carp in the Italian Garden fountains rise to just under the surface to make the most of what's there.

A Harlequin Ladybird larva fell out of a tree by the Dell and landed on me, so I coaxed it on to my left hand and took a picture of it with the small camera.

A bee, probably a very worn Honeybee, fed on False Heather, Cuphea hyssopifolia, in the Rose Garden ...

... and the wild vervain in the Italian Garden was full of Honeybees.

The Goodyear blimp flew over the park.

The current models, of which there are four only one of which is in Europe, are actually no longer blimps. They are semi-rigid with an internal frame, and are made by the old firm, Zeppelin. The two side engines can be swivelled up and down and there is a clever little sideways propeller on the rear engine, so the craft is very manoeuvrable. It can actually land to take on its twelve passengers without needing a mooring tower as the old airships did. But they were four times as long and the Graf Zeppelin had a grand piano in the lounge, specially made by Bechstein with an aluminium frame.

Peering through the leaves

The Little Owls at the Serpentine Gallery are hard to see in the leaves of the plane tree where they are staying at the moment, but I got a reasonable view of the female owlet after a long search to find a gap in the leaves.

Returning later and searching with Julia, we got obstructed views of the male owlet with his mother preening a few feet away on the branch.

Not many Blue Tits have been visible lately, but one came out in the Flower Walk, very tattered from feeding chicks. There was also a Coal Tit singing here.

The Great Tit pair in the big yew in the Dell also reappeared after a long absence.

This is the young Robin at Mount Gate, already with red plumage but still showing a yellow edge at the base of its bill.

While Julia and I were photographing it a younger Robin, still brown and speckled, flew across the path and vanished into the bushes. So there are two nests here.

One of the young Pied Wagtails took a break from hunting midges on the roof of the boat hire building.

The other was looking for insects on the platform below.

All three young Grey Herons from the nest at the east end of the island have started exploring. They were in a bush below the nest. They can fly back when their parents arrive to feed them.

The heron in the Italian Garden got another carp.

The stark stonework of the garden is now softened by plenty of wild plants. We've already seen pictures of the clumps of pretty purple vervain around the edges of the pools and under the railings. Behind the heron are fleabane, marjoram and purple loosestrife. No doubt the gardeners will be sent in soon to lay them waste with strimmers, but meanwhile we can enjoy them.

The Great Crested Grebes remaking their nest at the island have not got far. They may not complete it.

The Coots' nest in the water lilies in the Italian Garden fountains has produced two chicks. Here they are leaving the nest, probably for the first time, and coming out to be fed on the water.

The Coots nesting at the south end of the Peter Pan waterfront have already had one brood this year, of which one chick survived. They have been having another try and this time apparently have only a single chick. Maybe these second nestings are less prolific.

The Coots' second nest on the post does have eggs, maybe three, though you can't see them here. The Coot eyed a Black-Headed Gull disapprovingly, but actually it's only the large gulls that are a threat to them.

Egyptian goslings passed the Mute Swan with her three cygnets at the boathouse.

There are hordes of Red Admiral butterflies. One perched on another unauthorised plant at Peter Pan, water mint. The gardeners' neglect brings an education in British wildflowers.

A Honeybee fed on a Verbena bonariensis flower in the Rose Garden. This is the posh cousin of the wild vervain in the Italian Garden and has bigger flowers, but they are sparse and borne on long straight stems, and in my opinion it is much less pretty.

When the female Emperor Dragonflies are laying eggs, there often seem to be Common Blue Damselflies hanging around. Do they snatch the eggs?

Dragonflies and damselflies often bask on the spikes on the railings when the iron is warmed by the sun. This is a male Black-Tailed Skimmer, the commonest dragonfly in the park.

Invisible owls

The male Little Owl looked out of a shady patch in a lime tree.

I heard the female and one owlet calling in the plane tree, and the other owlet calling in the chestnut next to the nest tree, but in spite of going round both trees several times at different distances I couldn't get a sight of any of them. Sometimes it's just impossible to find a gap in the leaves.

There were few small birds to be seen as they lurked in the shade, but as I was going home along the Flower Walk half a dozen Great Tits came out in a bush to ask for pine nuts.

Canada and Greylag Geese rested in the shade of the trees along the south shore of the Serpentine ...

... but a few Greylags which had already regrown their flight feathers after moulting were making short test flights to get their balance back.

Various ducks and a Coot were shading themselves under the planter along the edge of the Lido restaurant terraace.

The Great Crested Grebes at the island gave up their nest in the wire basket for unknown reasons  -- the Moorhen is still there -- and have started rebuilding at the place halfway along the edge.

All seems to be going well on the nest under the Dell restaurant balcony.

A brisk breeze ruffled up a Moorhen's feathers as it turned downwind.

The elusive Coot chick in the northeast pool of the Italian Garden emerged from the irises to join the other four.

The local Cormorant ...

... and Grey Heron were doing tremendous execution in the pools. It's always the same two birds, it seems. Thanks to Ahmet Amerikali for both pictures.

The heron fishing under the willow by the bridge is also probably always the same one.

The three young ones in the nest at the east end of the island were getting adventurous. The position of the left one shows that they are already able to make short flying hops.

The Mute Swan 4DVZ led her three remaining cygnets up the lake beyond the island. The Black Swan was dozing on the shore and couldn't be bothered to chase them off.

Anything will do as a toy for a young Herring Gull, even a tiny bit of willow leaf.

A Yellow-Bellied Slider terrapin swam across the Long Water. There are five terrapins in the lake, all originally pets but dumped when they got too big and snappy. They do try to breed, but the climate isn't warm enough for the eggs to hatch.

A male Emperor dragonfly hunted under the parapet of the Italian Garden.

A Red Admiral butterfly drank nectar from an agapanthus in the Dell.