A meal at the Lido restaurant

We often hear this Song Thrush singing in the Flower Walk, but it's usually invisible in a treetop. Today it appeared lower down in a holly tree.

A Robin in the corkscrew hazel bush scolded a Magpie.

A family of Greenfinches jumped around in a holly tree near Peter Pan and I managed to get three of them in the same picture.

A flock of Long-Tailed Tits ranged around the Diana memorial car park. This is one of the teenagers.

A Jay beside the Long Water waited to swoop down for a peanut.

A young Carrion Crow drinking from the Serpentine had white patches, the sign of a poor diet of junk food scavenged from bins.

The Grey Heron at the Lido restaurant raided a table. It had difficulty with a slice of pizza but chips were a great success.

The newest brood of herons on the Serpentine island are growing fast. This is the sixth nest in a record breeding season at the small heronry.

Pigeon Eater had caught his latest victim near the boat hire platform.

The Mute Swan family returned to the Long Water after their father had led an expedition on to the Serpentine to beat up the other swans.

A Egyptian Goose examined a fallen fruit under one of the plum trees at the Triangle, but found it too unripe to eat.

The Mandarin family on the Round Pond went ashore to graze on the grass, which is dry but still nutritious. The smallest duckling got left on the edge but hurried to catch up with the others.

Three Buff-Tailed Bumblebees crowded on to an eryngium flower east of the Lido.

Duncan Campbell and Annette rescued a Willow Emerald damselfly that had got caught in a spider's web.

He sent some pictures where he was uncertain about the species. This is probably an Ornate-Tailed Digger Wasp.

One of the little Colletes bees in the Rose Garden. There are a lot of similar species but this very clear picture might be enough to identify it.

And this seems likely to be a Four-Banded Flower Bee, which would be a new find in the park. It wouldn't pose for a good picture, but here are the best two he managed before it flew off.

Wasp in action

The familiar Coal Tits in the Flower Walk haven't been seen recently but one turned up today, looking tatty after nesting. It remembered me and came to my hand for a pine nut.

The Wren was there again, holding a cricket and trying to get to its nest unobserved by Magpies. This time it was Ahmet Amerikali who got a picture of it ...

... and also of a Blackcap eating a blackberry near Peter Pan.

A picture by Tom from yesterday of a Chiffchaff in the holly tree beside the Long Water where we found Long-Tailed Tits, a Chaffinch and a Song Thrush.

A Pied Wagtail skittered around the edge of the Round Pond hunting midges.

A quick check found the Mandarin family in good order.

A newly arrived flock of Black-Headed Gulls clustered on the water. There were a few young ones with them.

The Grey Heron at the Lido restaurant is getting very bold, and was standing on a table in the midst of the diners.

A heron fishing in the Italian Garden was defied by a Coot. All the pools have Coot families of various ages now and the parents are on the defensive.

The heron took no notice, and later Ahmet got a picture of it catching a carp.

This is the mate of the Great Crested Grebe nesting at the Serpentine island. He was guarding the nest and passed the time by having a wash, then struck a defensive attitude as there was a rival in sight.

The Mute Swan from the reed bed was escorting her single cygnet.

Tom found a Painted Lady butterfly near the Queen's Temple.

A remarkable picture from Ahmet Amerikali: a Bee Wolf, Philanthus triangulum, which is a species of large solitary wasp, killing a Honeybee on the eryngium patch by the Lido. 

It flew away carrying its victim, which was bigger than itself. They kill insects to feed to their grubs. The adults live entirely on liquids, and can't digest solids at all since these can't get past their wasp waist.

The teasels in the Rose Garden are coming into flower, attracting Buff-Tailed Bumblebees ...

... and I think this is a Vestal Cuckoo Bee, a parasite of Buff-Tails which lays its eggs in their nest.

There were at least two Lesser Emperor dragonflies by the bridge, chasing the Black-Tailed Skimmers. They wouldn't stop while I was there, but I got a mediocre picture of one in flight.

A Cucumber Green Orb Spider, Araniella cucurbitina, climbed down the railings by the Henry Moore sculpture, which are usually strung with webs. The Housefly wasn't caught in a web and landed on and took off from the spike several times, but it was in a dangerous spot.

At last, a Great Crested Grebes' nest

The Great Crested Grebes on the lake have been delaying nesting for a very long time, but finally a pair have got around to it on a chain at the east end of the Serpentine island. It's an uncomfortably exposed spot but a nest here has succeeded in the past. The grebes can't nest in the spring as they have to wait for there to be enough small fish to feed their young.

There were a few more grebes on the lake which had probably arrived last night.

The Coot nesting on the wire basket by the bridge has failed for the third time. There were eggs in the nest but these have gone, and the Coot had only just been able to return to the nest after a Grey Heron had commandeered it for a fishing station. This happens year after year, but Coots never give up ...

... and hope springs eternal, for another pair have just made a nest on the chain at the other end of the bridge.

A Tufted drake stood tall and jerked his head,  trying to coax a female into mating. She wasn't in the least impressed.

The heron that hangs around the Lido restaurant was on an umbrella, waiting to make a lightning raid on a vacated table.

Pigeon Eater, in his usual place on the Dell restaurant, was being annoyed by Carrion Crows.

At the Round Pond another Lesser Black-Backed Gull was having a go at catching Feral Pigeons, without success.

This is not the gull I filmed doing the same thing the day before yesterday. The habit is spreading, perhaps influenced by the skill of the original Pigeon Eater, but also because Lesser Black-Backs will have a go at anything if they think they can catch it.

A check on the Mandarins found them in good order.

There's always a wind at the exposed Round Pond, and a Red-Veined Darter dragonfly had to cling to a grass stem and fly on the spot to avoid being blown away.

David Element and Neil Philips were here to photograph dragonflies and other creatures, and one of the things they found was a very young newt. It's too small to tell whether it's a Palmate Newt or a Smooth Newt.

Neil  remarked, 'I call him Tiny because he's my newt.' Universal groans.

He got a fine picture of a Lesser Emperor dragonfly on the chain at the bridge, one of several that were here ...

... and of a Song Thrush, a bit stained by eating ripe blackberries, which was looking for insects for its young in a nest in a tree near the Queen's Temple.

Also on the railings was the younger of the two male Chaffinches that regularly come for pine nuts ...

... and there was a family of Long-Tailed Tits in a holly tree. This is one of the teenagers, now hunting independently.

In the Flower Walk the same Wren was zooming around nattering angrily, unable to bring a spider to its nest because there was a Magpie watching.

A Jackdaw by the Henry Moore sculpture trotted up to request a peanut.

People were feeding Rose-Ringed Parakeets near the Steiner bench, and several young ones could be seen.

Three Buff-Tailed Bumblebees crowded into a dahlia in the Italian Garden.

Thrush still singing

Most of the songbirds have fallen silent by the beginning of July but a Song Thrush behind the statue of Peter Pan was still in good voice, though having to content with the calls of Black-Headed Gulls.

The Wren I photographed yesterday in the Flower Walk was still having trouble with Magpies near its nest. It zigzagged around scolding loudly. Here it is on one of the gateposts.

We've also seen this young Robin before, but there's no harm in another picture.

An adult Robin in the Dell perched on a gardener's bag, waiting for a worm to be turned up. Worms are in short supply in the hard ground, and a bit of rain this morning hasn't made much difference.

It's hard for the Little Owls too, as worms are a normal part of their diet. The male at the Serpentine Gallery could be seen in the nest tree, but I couldn't find the owlet.

The two young Carrion Crows on the grass below are still nagging their parents unmercifully.

An exceptionally stupid young Feral Pigeon perched on the Peregrines' ledge on the barracks tower.  The male Peregrine had been there shortly before and can't have been far off.

Quite a few Black-Headed Gulls have now returned to the Long Water. There are no young ones with them, and probably the gulls that have bred are still at their breeding grounds.

One of the three young Grey Herons in the newest nest on the Serpentine island could be seen. The nest extends some way to the right behind the leaves, and when the young birds sit down there they can't be seen from the shore.

At the other end of the island the Coot in the nest on the chain seems to be untroubled by the Cormorant higher up the chain. I think the Cormorant that usually stands here is the same one every year, since most Cormorants prefer to stand on the posts and several of these were free.

The Coots on the Mute Swans' nesting island on the Long Water exercised their strange privilege of being left alone by the swans, which were cruising nearby.

The Mandarin family were on the edge of the Round Pond, with the Mallards cruising not far away.

A Small Skipper butterfly drank nectar from a cranesbill flower in the Flower Walk.

There was also an unidentifible small bee, maybe a Colletes species.

A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee climbed up a purple loosestrife flower in the Italian Garden.

A Marmalade Hoverfly browsed on a Black-Eyed Susan flower behind the Lido ...

... and there was another in a clumb of phlox in the Rose Garden.