Little Owls switching over

The new Great Crested Grebe chick could be seen from Peter Pan on the far side of the lake with its parents.

This fish was too large, so the adult ate it.

There are still plenty of small fish suitable for chicks. This is one of the two from the north side of the island.

The teenager from the Dell restaurant nest was still pestering its mother and got chased away.

It started fishing busily at Fisherman's Keep. It probably was catching some of the little fish at the edge, but these are small enough to eat without surfacing.

A Grey Heron joined a Mute Swan and some Coots on the remains of the nesting raft at the Triangle. This view from the other side of the lake shows that it is kept afloat by PVC drainpipe. This must have leaked, causing the raft to list more and more. The wooden structure behind it is the row of boxes of water plants at the edge.

The Black Swan and 4GIQ were at the landing stage by the Diana fountain. I heard that the former boss pair on the Long Water, 4HDW and 4DTT, had been seen on the Serpentine looking miserable. Who knows what disputes have been going on unseen by us?

The two dominant Black-Headed Gulls on the south side of the lake: The Czech visitor, visiting some people on a bench to tout for titbits ...

... and the one on the landing stage, which keeps away from humans.

When I first went past the Little Owls' plane tree by the Serpentine Gallery the female owl was looking down from the usual branch ...

... but when I passed again three hours later it was the male in exactly the same place. Yes, Little Owls can change their size by fluffing up their feathers, and they can adjust their eyebrows, but really there is no way that these two pictures can show the same bird.

Both the Peregrines were on the barracks tower, but the female was flying out from time to time and was away when I went by, so this picture shows only the male.

A sad event in the Dell: the corkscrew hazel bush which gave shelter to several small birds has been cut down. The Blue Tits ...

... and Coal Tits were flitting around confusedly trying to find somewhere comfortable.

A Grey Wagtail hunted by the Dell restaurant.

There are still quite a few Small White butterflies in the Rose Garden. One rested on a lantana.

A Common Wasp applied itself to an ivy flower at the back of the Lido.

A few warm days have brought out more cyanobacteria under the Italian Garden, and the breeze carried in their foul stench.

An unexpected grebe chick

There is at least one more Great Crested Grebe chick on the Long Water. I was at Peter Pan and saw a pair in the distance on the far side of the lake, wondered what they were doing, and took a picture. And this is what it shows. These, the second pair to breed on the Long Water, had been several times near the reeds on the east side and they must have nested there out of sight.

This is one of the chicks from the next youngest set, from the north side of the Serpentine island.

The chicks from the east end of the island were taking a few minutes off pestering their parents to look after their feathers. Their wings are now fully grown but I haven't yet seen one trying to fly.

The Little Grebe chicks were hidden in the bushes on the east side of the Long Water, but one came out in the open for a short time and could be seen from the bridge.

The mob of Coots on the Long Water gets larger and larger.

There were at least 50 Cormorants on the Long Water alone.

Greylag Geese like apples, but it's hard to eat one in the water. This pair at the Lido restuarant were doing their best.

The Black Swan and 4GIQ were also on the edge of the terrace.

A Grey Heron looked for fish in the dark corner under the Dell restaurant balcony.

The male Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was in the plane tree.

The Robin at the southwest corner of the bridge waited beside a clump of withered blackberries.

The female Coal Tit in the Dell appeared in the corkscrew hazel ...

... and a Blue Tit was in the big yew tree ...

... where a squirrel was eating the fruit.

The fox south of the Vista emerged from the undergrowth.

A Marmalade Fly ...

... and a Greenbottle browsed on ivy flowers at the back of the Lido.

For some years there has been a patch of mauve cyclamen behind the railings southeast of the Italian Garden, and it's gradually spreading. People think of cyclamen as a house plant but it does much better in the open air.

Quietly confident Robin

A Robin sang gently to itself on a twig near the Italian Garden. This isn't one of my regular Robins, but it put up with being filmed and came to my hand for a pine nut.

The big yew tree in the Dell has a lot of fruit on it, which made a pretty background for one of the local Blue Tits ...

... and the female Coal Tit of the pair.

The female Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery could be seen in the plane tree ...

... under which a Jay barred the way to make sure that it was noticed.

Carrion Crows gathered in a tree by the Round Pond. I had gone there because a Little Owl was heard yesterday in the area where the pair used to nest in the old hollow tree until it burned down. I had a good look around, but didn't find an owl. However, it's a place to listen and look.

Both the Peregrines were on the tower.

On the grass below, where the Crystal Palace stood in 1851, five Pied Wagtails dashed around. The site is now football fields, and the worn grass and bare patches make it easier for them to run.

The Czech Black-Headed Gull stood on the notice at Fisherman's Keep that is its favourite lookout point. As with all the ugly proliferation of notices in the park, no one pays this the least heed. But it was striking how all the notices warning about toxic 'blue-green algae' were taken down shortly before the mass swimming event, and then put back immediately afterwards.

Pigeon Eater was waiting for a Feral Pigeon to stop paying attention. But even with its head turned away it could see him out of the corner of its eye, and flew away before he could rush at it.

A Little Grebe chick on the Long Water chased a parent with a fish.

Another joined in, but this time the parent chose to eat the fish itself. They can't give everything to the chicks.

These are the Great Crested Grebe chicks from the north side of the island returning to the place where they were hatched. The remins of the nest can be seen on the left of the picture.

The two from the east end of the island were fishing together at the edge of the lake, though when a parent appeared they raced off to pester it.

The term for a group of Coots is 'a raft', but these are really on a raft, the battered remains of the swan nesting basket at the Triangle. There's one Moorhen with them on the near corner.

Seven Cormorants preened on the fallen tree at the Peter Pan waterfront.

A late Red Admiral butterfly perched on a leaf in the Flower Walk.

Ivy flowers at the back of the Dell attracted Common Wasps. I was looking for an Ivy Bee, a species occasionally found here, but had no luck.

Another odd gull couple

A Carrion Crow had a brisk wash in the Serpentine before flying off to dry in a tree.

A Grey Wagtail hunted along the edge of the Lido restaurant terrace.

The Blue Tit pair in the Dell are now regular customers for pine nuts. One waited in the corkscrew hazel bush.

A Great Tit perched in a pyracantha bush in the Flower Walk. Most of its abundant berries have now been eaten.

The male Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was in the plane tree.

Both the Peregrines were on the barracks tower, but by the time I got round to it the female had flown away.

The Lesser Black-Backed Gull here is the one we saw eating a Feral Pigeon it had caught at the Triangle. It was having a flirtation with a Herring Gull. There are several of these mixed pairs, and I suspect that some of the lighter coloured gulls we take to be Lesser Black-Backs are in fact hybrids.

A Grey Heron stood on the swan nesting basket west of the Lido. Although no swan has even been on it, the flimsy structure is falling to pieces by itself.

The basket at the Triangle where the Black Swan and 4GIQ nested has been thoroughly trashed and is beginning to sink. It's now a hangout for various Mute Swans and Coots.

The pair were together on the other side of the lake.

A Little Grebe and one chick threaded their way through a crowd of Coots on the Long Water.

The female Great Crested Grebe checked out an abandoned Coot nest while, just visible behind her, a chick shouted at her to stop wasting time and bring it a fish.

The other two chicks were on the far side of the bridge. The pushy one which had been unmercifully pestering its father turned away abruptly ...

... because it saw that its exasperated parent was about to chase it off.

The single young grebe from the nest under the Dell restaurant balcony is now independent but by no means skilled at fishing yet, and is having to work hard to survive this difficult stage. They usually start by fishing in the shallows at the edge of the lake, where there are tiny fish and other small aquatic creatures that are easy to catch.

We saw the young Moorhens on the fallen tree at Peter Pan when they were very small. Now they are fully grown and in their drab teenage plumage.

An enormous Buff-Tailed Bumblebee on a clump of baby sage in the Rose Garden must be a queen.

All the remaining Willow Emerald damselflies have lost their green colour and turned bronze, though they still have their metallic sheen.