Hardy Little Owl

On a chilly drizzly day with a keen wind it was a pleasant surprise to find the Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery out in her usual lime tree.

It's impossible to walk through this area without being assailed by hungry Jays. Here are some under the bridge ...

... on the parapet ...

... and at Mount Gate in the dead leaves of what I think is a cornel cherry.

A Carrion Crow waited by a spiky agave in an urn in the Italian Garden.

'Don't you dare obey this sign.'

Two Blue Tits came out at the southwest corner of the bridge, one keen to come to my hand and this one lurking shyly in the bushes. It did eventually pluck up courage and take a pine nut.

A Robin perched on a yew hedge in the Flower Walk ...

... and the one at the Lido restaurant was on the edge of the terrace.

At the other end of the terrace a Grey Wagtail trotted along.

Pigeon Eater was keeping dry on a deserted table under the canopy of the Dell restaurant.

The two young Great Crested Grebes from the Long Water were at the bridge with their father, who was supervising their attempts at fishing.

They were diving busily ...

... and shooting around the edges of the wire baskets.

A group of Mute Swans browsed on the reeds at the edge of the Long Water, a tough diet. But they couldn't move up to the Vista to crop the grass, as 4HDW and 4DTT were waiting there to chase them away.

The Egyptian Geese in the Italian Garden didn't show any interest in the vervain growing on the edge of the pavement when it was green and flowering, but now that it's dead they seem to like it. Vervain is said to relieve anxiety and insomnia and aid digestion. But perhaps the main incentive was that a gardener was clearing away these unauthorised plants and they wanted to make the most of them before they were all gone.

The two dark Mallard drakes, presumably brothers, are long-term residents of the lake. Only one of them has a mate. The pair were by the reeds east of the Lido.

Woodpeckers on a wet day

A Green Woodpecker by the south shore of the Serpentine searched for worms brought up by the rain.

A Great Spotted Woodpecker probed the bark of a tree at the northwest corner of the bridge ...

... where a pair of Great Tits were waiting for service in an oak.

The pair of Coal Tits at the Serpentine Gallery picked me up when I was looking for the owl, who was sensibly staying in her hole to keep dry, and followed me to the bridge.

The female Coal Tit in the Dell could be seen in the yew.

The Robin at the southwest corner of the bridge emerged from the shelter of the bramble patch.

A brief glimpse of a Wren, a Chiffchaff, and another Wren in various parts of the park.

Pigeon Eater took advantage of the rain to preen, which is more effective with slightly damp feathers.

A Grey Heron was fishing from the swan nesting island at the top of the Long Water ...

... where one of the young Great Crested Grebes was looking for fish among the reeds.

The other of the two was fishing by the bridge.

Its father was nearby under the bridge and caught a perch, but despite his offspring's entreaties ate it himself, as if to say 'You're old enough to catch your own fish now.'

The Egyptian Goose pair from the Italian Garden were drinking from a puddle, which they and most birds prefer to the borehole water in the lake.

The mother at the Diana fountain was sheltering her goslings. Two came out ...

... so she stood, showing that she still has five of her original seven after losing one to a Herring Gull yesterday.

Although there are plenty of Shovellers on the Long Water there is just one drake on the Serpentine, which was preening at Fisherman's Keep. There was a flash of its bright green secondary feathers.

The Wollemi pine in the Dell has produced two saplings from fallen cones, which have been carefully staked. There are dead leaves on both these and the parent tree, and it seems that the English climate doesn't suit this rare Australian species. The first Wollemi pine planted here died, and this one is a replacement.

The fruit in the arbutus tree at the southeast corner of the bridge is ripening prettily. It's also known as the Strawberry Tree: the fruit doesn't look particularly like strawberries but it does have an insipid strawberry-like taste. The birds are not particularly keen on it. Humans sometimes make it into an uninteresting jam. Its botanical name, Arbutus unedo ('eat once'), also conveys a lack of enthisiasm.

Yet another pigeon eater

I don't recognise this Lesser Black-Backed Gull eating a Feral Pigeon on the lawn east of the Dell. But it isn't far from Pigeon Eater's hunting ground and, as we have seen before, several other gulls are trying to copy his successful methods.

A Grey Heron at the Triangle had grabbed a bit of bread too large to swallow whole, and was trying to hang on to it while assailed by Black-Headed Gulls and Mute Swans.

The dominant Black-Headed Gull has regained his place on the landing stage, but only because the Herring Gull had got bored with standing there.

The Czech gull is the undisputed master of the south-east corner of the Serpentine, and was standing on his post complacently surveying his territory with not another Black-Headed Gull within a hundred years of him.

At the landing stage the Black Swan lunged at a Carrion Crow which had got too close.

The female Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery looked down from her lime tree, obligingly staying in place for a couple of Dutch visitors who had come specially to see her.

Both the Peregrines were on the tower. The female is on the left. They almost always perch with the concrete division between them so that they can't be seen by the other.

A Jay waited in a yew near Temple Gate.

After a relative absence of Rose-Ringed Parakeets for some days they had crowded back into the park and there was a mob at the place near the Italian Garden where people feed them.

Others were eating the very small fruit on a Japanese crabapple tree at the Triangle.

A Blue Tit in the Dell was getting impatient about being photographed ...

... but the Coal Tits seem to have learnt that if they pose for the camera they will get pine nuts immediately afterwards. This is the male of the pair.

Sunny spells brought out insects in the Dell, though they were an ordinary lot. A Honeybee explored a hibiscus, not a flower they generally bother with.

A Common Wasp flew over a Bat-Faced Cuphea.

A Flesh Fly, probably a Sarcophaga species, rested on a dahlia.

Ahmet Amerikali was at Southwark Park, where he got a good picture of a young Little Grebe with a substantial carp.

An Egyptian Goose on the same little lake had eleven goslings.

A cold wind

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.