Summer's lease extended

It was the turn of the male Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery to perch at the front of the big plane tree, on a new branch where I almost missed him. Although I have heard them both calling in this tree, you never seem to see them near each other.

On a warm day with plenty of insects still around for the small birds, these weren't crowding out to be fed. But the Coal Tits in the Dell are always keen on pine nuts, which are a special favourite of theirs. By choice they live in stone pines, the umbrella-shaped trees familiar in the Italian landscape, and peck these seeds out of the cones. However, there are no stone pines in the park.

Pigeon Eater is well into his winter plumage, with dark streaks on his head. But he had also picked up some muck on his front from swimming in the foul lake. He is very careful of his appearance, and soon preened it off.

This is the Grey Heron I saw sunbathing by the island three days ago, today back in the same place taking in the sunshine.

Cormorants have spread to occupy most of the posts at the bridge.

It's getting hard to tell which Great Crested Grebe chicks are which as they range widely about the lake.This is definitely one from the nest on the Long Water ...

... with a sibling on the other side of the bridge.

These two near the Lido are evidently from the nest on the north side of the island ...

... and this is the single teenager from the nest at the Dell restaurant, taking a break from fishing to preen and have a massive shrug. 

The Black Swan was cruising among the Mute mob on the Long Water with a lordly air. It seems likely that he is aiming to be the boss of the Long Water, and perhaps the subdued behaviour of 4HDW is the result of losing a fight with him.

Two Canada Geese washed on the Serpentine, and one of them flapped its mighty wings.

When the mother of the Egyptian goslings preened, two of the little ones copied her -- but the one in the middle was asleep.

The baskets of water plants which you can see in the picture of the Cormorants above attract insects, and the insects attract dragonflies. There were a good many here, mostly Migrant Hawkers but there was also a male Lesser Emperor.

A male Ruddy Darter rested on a leaf in the Dell. This seems to be the only place in the park where they are found.

The gaudy display of flowers planted to cheer up the drab building of the Hyde Park bandstand lavatories includes a large and brilliant canna lily.

Robins singing again

The Robins have started singing again after their late summer break, at first tentatively but this one is almost back in full song.

The Blue Tits in the Dell used to be quite timid, but now they have started touting for pine nuts as soon as they see me approaching.

The Coal Tits remain shy, but usually emerge from the bushes to take pine nuts from the railings.

A little group of Jackdaws waits every day in the catalpa trees by the Italian Garden.

Both the Peregrines were on the barracks ...

... and two Pied Wagtails were hunting on the grass below, not a place I have seen them before.

The female Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery had come out on a more visible branch in the plane tree.

A Cormorant flapped and shuffled around on the kerb of a pool in the Italian Garden, unworried by people passing a few feet away.

One of the many Cormorants at the Serpentine island had a typically frantic wash.

They have overflowed from the posts at the island to the electric boat charging platform.

The Great Crested Grebe family had spread out over both sides of the bridge, with the chicks in full cry.

A Little Grebe and two chicks hurried up the Long Water. The third chick was still in the reeds by the Vista, but could be heard.

This Mandarin at the Vista is probably the mother of the two young hatched by the Long Water. Some of the teenage Mandarins from the Round Pond are also visiting the Long Water from time to time.

Not seen for some weeks, the Mute Swan 4HDW appeared at the Vista. We were thinking that something had happened to him, but he looked perfectly well.

However, he and his mate 4DTT are completely ignoring their single cygnet ...

... and there are other swans all over the Long Water and a flock of Canada Geese, which the old boss would not have tolerated.

Flowers for Anthony Soh, the student at Imperial College who drowned in the Serpentine seven years ago but is still remembered.

Trying to understand Black-Headed Gulls

Black-Headed Gulls, like many birds that feed on the shore, pick up small edible things that are usually almost impossible to identify or even see. Much of this food must be the aquatic larvae of insects.

You often see two Black-Headed Gulls calling to each other in this way. If the interchange develops into them walking side by side, it's courtship. If it ends in a chase, it's rivalry. But sometimes they just stop and stroll away. It seems that the call is an assertion of status for any purpose.

A Little Grebe chick was given a fish under the willow by the bridge.

Cormorants are still finding large carp under the Italian Garden, a place they have been fishing intensively for months. They usually exhaust the supply around midwinter and numbers fall as they go back to the river. Thanks to Ahmet Amerikali for this picture.

Cormorants on the fallen poplar at Peter Pan contrasted with the Mute Swans which are now all over the Long Water.

The Black Swan now divides his time between the Serpentine and the Long Water. Here he is going under the bridge.

On the far side of the Lido the Egyptian Goose family hurried to the water as a dog approached.

The female Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was on the same branch as yesterday, an awkward place for a photograph but it's always good to see her.

Long-Tailed Tit flocks hunted through the trees north of Peter Pan ...

... and along the eastern edge of the greenhouse enclosure, a pleasantly neglected and wild area in the valley of the buried Tyburn Brook.

The male Coal Tit appeared in the Dell for his daily issue of pine nuts ...

... and so did the Robin at the southwest corner of the bridge.

Another picture from Ahmet, a Chiffchaff in the scrubby patch east of the Lido.

Several Migrant Hawker dragonflies were flying around the shore by the Triangle. I caught one male in flight ...

... and another resting on the railings.

A European Drone Fly browsed on a Michaelmas daisy in the Rose Garden.

Common Wasps visited a fatsia bush. The flowers are over, and the little knobs that remain have yet to develop into fruit, but the wasps seem able to harvest some nectar from them in this intermediate state.

Peering through the leaves

The female Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was in a difficult place in the plane tree, but it was possible to see her preening ...

... and stretching her wings, surpisingly large for such a small bird.

A Carrion Crow on a stump at Temple Gate clearly considered me an inferior being, though useful as a source of peanuts.

A pair of Magpies waited in the variegated holly tree between the bridge and the Vista, a useful lookout post as it has a lot of dead and leafless branches.

The Robin at the bridge seems to be female, as she sometimes does the wing-fluttering display when she wants a pine nut.

The female Coal Tit in the Dell, whom I indentified in the same way, seems to have learnt that she must stay still for long enough to be photographed before she gets fed.

A Great Spotted Woodpecker on the island ignored five hundred tons of A380 trundling overhead to Heathrow.

This young Lesser Black-Backed Gull must be Pigeon Eater's own offspring, as any other gull would be instantly chased off the roof.

All the posts at the island were taken when another Cormorant arrived, and it got a hostile reception from the occupants. Eventually it found a little stump to stand on.

A Grey Heron sunbathed on the shore ...

... and another was reflected in the stream as it fished in the Dell.

The single Great Crested Grebe chick was at Fisherman's Keep. So was its mother, who was completely ignoring it. The young bird is on its own now and expected to feed itself.

The Little Grebe chicks on the Long Water are fishing for themselves but still getting an occasional contribution from a parent.

Seven Egyptian Geese flew into the Rose Garden ...

... and landed on the Huntress fountain. This is the only source of water at the east end of Hyde Park, and gives them a place to drink without having to fly up to the main lake. The algae in the pool also seem to be palatable.

The local fox was dozing on the lawn under the Henry Moore sculpture.