Grebe chicks' first day out

The three Great Crested Grebe chicks from the nest at the Dell restaurant were being readied for their first expedition out on to the open lake. Their father was carrying two and their mother was about to collect the third.

When they arrived at the fishing place they had to be sorted on to one parent so that the other could catch fish for them.

This teenage Great Crested Grebe wasn't hatched on the lake, and must have been brought in by its parents as soon as it could fly. The geese are already choosing to breed outside, away from the danger of the Herring Gulls, but this is the first time I've seen grebes doing it.

A Moorhen chick under the Italian Garden was light enough for its enormous feet to stop it sinking into the soft mat of algae. It did need to keep moving to stay up.

The Mute Swans on the Long Water have regrown their flight feathers after moulting, and were celebrating by chasing each other about.

The Tufted Duck still had seven ducklings, now growing fast, and was leading them up the Serpentine towards the bridge.

There was one young Grey Heron in the nest at the east end of the island. Another flew in ...

... followed by the third.

A wild scene ensued.

The female Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was in an irritable mood and wouldn't pose for her portrait. She soon flew into an inaccessible part of the lime tree.

The female owlet is also shy, but stayed in the other lime for long enough to give me a disapproving stare.

This is the other parent of the young Jays that were by the gallery, even tattier than the one I photographed yesterday. Raising young really does take it out of some birds.

A Stock Dove came down from the trees to have a drink in the Serpentine.

A Painted Lady butterfly fed on a thistle at the Vista ...

... and there was a Meadow Brown on a water mint flower.

Bindweed has appeared in the Rose Garden to the annoyance of the gardeners, but the Buff-Tailed Bumblebees like it.

The giant earthenware pots at the Lido restaurant have been planted with dwarf pomegranate trees, now in flower.

The Little Grebe emerges

The Little Grebe on the Long water is often heard but seldom seen as it skulks along the edge of the lake under the bushes. Then it has to come out in the open to cross to the other side it reaches the bridge. This was shot looking down from the parapet, and I've left the traffic noise as it was so that you you can hear the bird's whinnying call.

A Great Crested Grebe hurried past while I was waiting for the Little Grebe to emerge.

The nest under the Dell restaurant balcony was a busy scene with Greylag and Egyptian Geese bustling around, but the sitting grebe was taking it easy and the three chicks were resting quietly under its wings. One put its head out to collect a small fish.

The Coots in the nest in the water lilies in the Italian Garden fountain were building it up while they looked after their two chicks.

In the next pool the Coots have torn up a lot of iris corms and heaped them up to make a large nest. It was a bad idea to remove the baskets protecting the irises, as the Coots are going to destroy the lot before long. They are quite unstoppable.

On the lake below, a Moorhen chick walked over the algae, supported by its enormous feet.

The Mute Swan pair on the Long Water brought their single surviving cygnet to Peter Pan.

The other pair on the Serpentine are doing better with three cygnets, but even they have lost two.

The Black Swan is regrowing his peculiar white flight feathers. He was dozing by the bridge, but woke up when offered some sunflower hearts.

The two Mallard ducklings on the Round Pond are large enough to be out of danger from Herring Gulls.

This young Pied Wagtail is often seen on the electric boat charging platform.

A young Blackbird came out from the bushes near the Italian Garden.

A Jackdaw waited for a peanut in a tree near the Lido.

This Robin at Mount Gate has a territory nearer the gate than the pair I usually see. Its family life is less visible, but there have been two young Robins of different ages and this must be a parent of the younger one. It's looking tatty after rearing the chick. 

The young Jays that were pestering their parents by the Serpentine Gallery have been thrown out now, and only the parents are left here. One was looking worn from the strain of bringing them up.

It was the turn of the female Little Owl to occupy the usual lime tree. She was the only one I saw today.

One more kind of butterfly in the Rose Garden, a Small Tortoiseshell. These used to be very common, but numbers have declined and I've only seen a few this year.

Hundreds of florets in the centre of a sunflower gave a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee plenty to do. It wasn't in a hurry and often paused for a rest.

Inherited eyebrows

The male Little Owlet at the Serpentine Gallery looked down from a lime tree ...

... and his father was in another. The grandfather, who nested here until last year, was a tiny owl with tremendous eyebrows, and these show in his male descendants.

A family of Chiffchaffs flew around in the Flower Walk. This is one of the parents in a magnolia, looking worn after raising the young ones.

A Long-Tailed Tit perched on the top of the corkscrew hazel bush.

A Wood Pigeon bathed in the Serpentine, taking care not to get out of its depth. Unlike Feral Pigeons, they can't take off from water and if they find themselves afloat they have to row laboriously ashore with the wrist joints on their wings.

A Grey Heron stood on an ivy-wrapped dead branch beside the Long Water.

A young Black-Headed Gull played with a grass stem on a post at Peter Pan.

There's no progress at the Great Crested Grebes' nest at the Dell restaurant, but it's been reported that all three chicks are all right and there is still one more egg. All was quiet when I was there and I could only see one chick.

The Coot nesting at the bridge, whose first chick was taken by Pigeon Eater, now has another.

Sad to say, the Mute Swan 4DTT on the Long Water has lost one of her two cygnets. The survivor was with her at Peter Pan, flapping its tiny wings.

The Tufted ducklings dived busily at Fisheman's Keep, picking up strands of alage and any small water creatures they find.

The first Willow Emerald damselflies have appeared, and there were four pairs at the bridge.

A Red-Veined Darter dragonfly perched on a dry grass stem beside the Round Pond.

A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee worked over a zinnia in the Rose Garden.

There were plenty of butterflies here. A Painted Lady fed on a Verbena bonariensis flower ...

... and a Red Admiral on sea lavender ...

... where there was also a Comma.

A Small White was on another verbena flower ...

... and a Meadow Brown on Black-Eyed Susan.

Another Red Admiral perched on printed water mint on a notice beside the Long Water.

Dunlin at the Round Pond

A straying Dunlin has turned up on the gravel strip in the Round Pond. Strays usually arrive here rather than on the main lake, as the pond is on a small hill and the ground around it is open so it can be seen from the air at a distance. The lake is in a valley and surrounded by trees, so much less visible. This is only the third Dunlin I've seen in the park.

The Mandarin here still has ten ducklings, and was sheltering them on the gravel strip. The restless little creatures soon wandered off.

This Tufted Duck on the Serpentine island hatched her ducklings some way off on the Long Water. She still has two, which are now quite large and out of danger from the Herring Gulls.

The younger Tufted Duck family were out of sight under the boat hire platform, but one of the ducklings strayed out on to the open water. Luckily mo Herring Gull noticed, and it soon went back under the platform.

A skein of Canada Geese flew past the Lido restaurant, limbering up with their newly regrown flight feathers. The geese that came to the lake to moult will soon fly away.

There are now three Great Crested Grebe chicks in the nest under the Dell restaurant balcony. That may be all, as I couldn't see the fourth egg.

This is how a grebe gets the chicks off its back: it stands up and shakes them. One was still hanging on as the other two tumbled down the nest.

The female went into the water and caught two fish. They were too large to feed to the new chicks, so she ate them herself.

The Moorhen in the Dell  was looking resentful ...

... because a Grey Heron had evicted it from its favourite rock.

A young heron played with a twig at the island. This is one from one of the early nests ...

... as all the young ones from the fourth nest at the east end of the island had returned, waiting to be fed by their parents.

The female Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was in the lime tree where her mate usually goes ...

... because both the owlets were in her usual lime and she didn't want to be pestered by them.

A Carrion Crow stared challengingly from a tree in the Dell.

It was a cloudy day and cooler than recently, but the bees in the Rose Garden were still active. A Common Carder browsed on sea lavender ...

... and a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee chose the agapanthus clump ...

... where there was also a little Marmalade Fly.