Both Little owlets on view

The male Little owlet at the Serpentine Gallery, not seen for several days, reappeared in the lime tree some distance from the nest tree where the parents often go to get away from the pestering of their young.

Its father was there too, so he hadn't managed to get away from them.

When I went back later the female owlet had joined them in the tree. This picture shows how an owl's foot has an outer front toe which can be angled forward for running on the ground and backward for grasping a branch or catching prey with two toes forward and two back.

The daily owl searches are now interrupted not only by the local Great Tits but by two Jays constantly demanding peanuts.

Today there was also a Song Thrush foraging under the trees.

The young Carrion Crows are learning to open peanuts themselves instead of expecting their parents to do it for them. I am giving them ones with the shell already cracked to make it easier for them.

The solitary tatty Black-Headed Gull on the Serpentine still hasn't linked up with its companions. There are only a few here yet, and most of them are on the Round Pond.

The collapse of another branch from the weeping willow by the bridge hasn't affected its suitability as a fishing place for Grey Herons and a nest site for Coots. The fallen branches are still attached to the trunk by a bridge of sapwood and bark, so they stay alive as the tree subsides bit by bit into the lake. All fallen trees stay in the lake: the park people would probably like to tidy them up but the health 'n' safety regulations about such a job are now so crazily onerous that they can't afford to.

A Cormorant fishing in a pool in the Italian Garden took a break for a wash ...

... and dried itself on the kerb.

The Coot nesting on the raft at the Traingle was again standing over the eggs with its wings down as if they were hatching, but as far as I could see nothing was happening.

The Great Crested Grebes at the west end of the island seem to have got right into one of the wire baskets, which must be broken as they are supposed to be completely enclosed. It's an excellent place for a nest, protected on all sides. Behind the grebe on the right you can see the Moorhen which is also nesting here.

The grebe nesting under the Dell restaurant balcony and a curious Mute Swan looked askance at each other.

The hybrid cygnet has not been seen since yesterday evening, and it seems increasingly likely that it has died. No one knows what happened.

The three Mute cygnets were with their mother 4DVZ on the shore east of the Lido. There is news of the fourth cygnet, which is alive at the Swan Sanctuary but still on a drip. Jenna thinks it may not have been attacked but may have botulism. The recent hot weather has caused the Clostridium botulinum bacterium to flourish in the lake. Waterfowl are fairly tolerant of it, but two Mallards have been affected by paralysis. One of them is being looked after by Jenna and is now able to stand.

Botulism is far more dangerous to humans and the Loch Maree disaster of 1922 is still remembered, when eight people at a Scottish hotel died of poisoning caused by duck paste in their picnic sandwiches. The bacterium produces spores which survive being boiled, and the only way to be sure of killing the spores is to pressure-cook the food raising the temperature to 121°C.

Tufted Ducks sometimes manage to breed successfully despite the many dangers in the park. This one with three ducklings appeared on the Long Water under the parapet of the Italian Garden.

The Mandarin teenagers were together under a tree at the Vista. Already one of them has a pink beak, showing that it's a drake.

Yesterday I think I saw the single young Pochard on the far side of the lake, but it looks much like an adult female now so it's hard to be sure from a distance.

A Comma butterfly drank nectar from sea lavender flowers in the Rose Garden.

A Red Admiral rested on the path by the Italian Garden, giving a view of its face which is hard for a human to read as a face at all. It is one of the butterflies that have only four functioning legs. The front pair, as reduced and useless as the forelegs of a tyrannosaurus, can be seen tucked up on either side of its head.

No shortage of Little Owls

Three of the Little Owls could be seen at the Serpentine Gallery: the male in the plane tree ...

... the female on her favourite lime branch ...

... and the female owlet in the chestnut.

When I came back in the late afternoon she flew across to the plane tree to pester her father. She was getting hungry, but couldn't be fed till sunset when the people and dogs went away and her parents could hunt on the ground.

Over towards the Queen's Temple, a Carrion Crow on a stump spotted me and came charging over for a peanut ...

... but the rest of the family were busy on an ants' nest.

A family of Long-Tailed Tits in the Flower Walk were dividing their attention between their usual favourite of a hawthorn, which seems to attract a lot of insects ...

... and a horse chestnut full of Leaf Miner Moth caterpillars, as you can see from the damage to the leaves.

A Song Thrush searched for worms in the fallen leaves below.

A young Robin looked around inquisitively from a branch.

The male Robin at Mount Gate came out several times for pine nuts.

Behind it on the hypericum bush was a Comma butterfly. Even with its wings folded the complicated outline makes it look interesting. It is the only member of the aptly named Polygonia genus native to Britain.

The Grey Heron in the Italian Garden was almost out of its depth in a pool.

A Pied Wagtail hunted in the wind-blown debris on the edge of the lake by the Dell restaurant.

The Great Crested Grebe nesting under the balcony was inspected by one of the Mute cygnets, which kept to a repectful distance and had probably been attacked already for going too close.

The Coot nesting on the raft at the Triangle was turning the eggs.

The posts in the Long Water which held the ill-fated tern raft are now regularly occupied by Gadwalls.

A bindweed flower by the Italian Garden attracted a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee and four smaller insects, Later: See Jim's comment below.

Little Egret on the Long Water

A Little Egret could be seen on a dead tree opposite Peter Pan. They seldom visit the park, although their relatives the Grey Herons thrive here.

A heron was confronting a pair of Great Crested Grebes and a Moorhen both nesting behind one of the wire baskets around the Serpentine island. I wouldn't have seen the nests if it hadn't been for the grebes shouting at the intruder.

Another new grebe nest in a hard place to see, a dead tree opposite Peter Pan. There are now three active nests. It's taken a while for them to get going, but grebes are more likely to be successful here if they start well into the summer when there are enough small fish to feed their young.

The Black Swan was with his Mute mate 4GIQ and their cygnet by the landing stage.

The Egyptian Goose who seemed poorly yesterday was now looking much better and with his mate on the nesting island on the Long Water.

The Egyptian with two teenagers was at the Vista again.

The tatty Black-Headed Gull that stayed behind on the Serpentine has still not joined up with the returning gulls. This picture shows the threadbare state of the primaries of its left wing. It can fly, but perhaps not well enough to go to a breeding ground. Anyway, it seems to be doing well and its feathers will grow back. Gulls moult their flight feathers one at a time so that they are always airworthy.

A Carrion Crow drank and bathed in the marble fountain in the Italian Garden.

A short way to the south a pair of Song Thrushes and a young one, and a Wren, were disturbed by the arrival of a Jay on a branch above.

A Jay raised his crest at his mate in the variegated holly tree between the bridge and the Vista.

A Greenfinch called from the top of the holly north of Peter Pan, a gathering place for many kinds of songbird.

The female Little owlet at the Serpentine Gallery was preening in the plane tree.

Red-Eyed Damselflies mated on algae in the Italian Garden, with the female laying eggs in the slime.

A Comma butterfly rested in a black walnut tree by the Rose Garden.

A Painted Lady perched in a scrubby patch in the Dell.

I think this bee on a knapweed flower behind the Lido is a Yellow-Legged Mining Bee, but the dusting of yellow pollen makes it hard to tell.

A Honeybee in the Rose garden was excited by an open rose with a lot of pollen in it, and rushed around ecstatically.

Another was browsing on a helenium.

Hungry owlet

The female Little owlet at the Serpentine Gallery was making begging calls in the plane tree. It was late afternoon and she was hungry. In natural surroundings Little Owls can hunt worms and beetles and feed their young all day, but in the park with people and dogs all over the ground they can only do this at dawn and dusk. Nevertheless, Little Owls are breeding well in the park.

A Wren sang on a cypress branch in the Dell.

This Robin in a flower bed at Mount Gate has adult plumage, but the yellow edge at the base of its bill shows that it's quite young. I think this may be the Robin that I glimpsed briefly here several months ago when it still had juvenile spotted plumage, and which has now grown up.

The Coot on the swan nesting raft at the Triangle was standing up and looking agitated, chewing nervously at a toe. I don't think the eggs are hatching already, and from another angle you could see them intact in the nest, so I don't know what was going on.

The Great Crested Grebe on the nest under the Dell restaurant balcony had a visit from two Mute cygnets. There are only three of these on the lake at the moment, as one has just been picked up suffering from water inhalation, a very serious thing for birds with their delicate complex respiratory system. It's being looked after at the moment and we hope it will recover and be returned to the family.

Now it would be unfair to point the finger at the obvious culprit ... 

... but these swans have now lost three cygnets. One went very early and may have been snatched by Pigeon Eater or another gull ...

... but the others were growing well and too large for a gull to grab. The family had been coming up the lake past the island, getting dangerously close to the Black Swan's territory. Then they lost a cygnet and immediately retreated to the far end of the lake, from which they have not emerged. But now they have nearly lost another to what looks like a deliberate swan attack.

The Black Swan's hybrid cygnet was eating Skullcap, Scutellaria galericulata, under the supervision of its mother 4GIQ. The plant is recommended as a mild sedative and nerve tonic. Its odd name comes from the supposed resemblance of the flower to a little medieval helmet. It doesn't look a bit like one to me.

There was a report of an Egyptian in a bad way in the Italian Garden, and I went to look after it till Jenna arrived to check it out. This is the male of the pair often seen in the garden. It wasn't too bad, a slight limp and some tattered feathers on its back. Jenna thought it had been in a territorial fight. The female was in the lake under the fountain. We will keep an eye on it for the next few days.

The mother Egyptian with six teenagers hastily crossed the Serpentine Road to avoid an oncoming dog.

There were two other teenagers with their mother at the Vista. Not clear where they came from.

Half a dozen Pochards had joined the crowd of resting duck at the Triangle, absolutely unfazed by passing humans.

A Painted Lady butterfly rested on the path, well camouflaged among the small stones and bits of plant detritus.

A Red Admiral perched on a nettle at the edge of the Caroline enclosure (that is, the scrubby patch at the southeast corner of the Serpentine where there is a memorial to Queen Caroline).

A Comma butterfly flexed its wings on a leaf in the Dell. You can see the little white curved mark on the underwing that gives the species its name.

The herbaceous borders in the Rose Garden have been planted with two different colour schemes, red and orange in one and blue and mauve in the other. The bees greatly prefer the second, and there's hardly an insect to be seen in the first. Here is a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee on something I'd never heard  of, Wavyleaf Sea Lavender, Limonium sinuatum.

A small pink rose was visited by what I am fairly sure is a European Drone Fly, Eristalis arbustorum.

Most of the planting around here is thorougly tasteful, but the gardeners are allowed to go over the top to cheer up the unlovely surroundings of the public lavatory at the bandstand. The result looks so like a Douanier Rosseau jungle that you start looking for a badly painted tiger.