A much needed wet day

The first proper rainy day in weeks brought out Blackbirds all over the park to search for worms in the softened soil.

This is an immature male. He'll get his adult yellow bill and eye ring next year.

Surprisingly, the female Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was out. The thick foliage of the plane tree gives some shelter from the rain.

A Jay in a nearby lime had also stayed dry ...

... and so had the Robin at the southwest corner of the bridge, where the thick brambles give excellent shelter.

The young Robin in the Rose Garden is beginning to get red feathers.

A Great Tit waited among rose hips.

The Coal Tits in the Dell came down from the shelter of their yew tree.

The other big gulls envy Pigeon Eater, who has twenty years' experience and can catch a Feral Pigeon whenever he wants. They often try to copy him, but seldom succeed. I've seen this Lesser Black-Back at the Triangle eyeing pigeons before, but this is the first time I've seen a successful kill. His mate circles him, nodding upwards to say 'Im your mate, let me have some.' I'm sure he will when he's eaten enough.

The Czech Black-Headed Gull is accustomed to begging from the people on the benches at Fisherman's Keep, but there was no one there except me so he tried his luck. I gave him a shelled peanut.

A young Grey Heron at the Triangle had got quite soggy.

The lamp posts at the bridge are often used as a vantage point by herons.

This one has a foot on the photoelectric cell, not providing enough shade to make the lamp switch on. But there are reports from Canada of Red-Winged Blackbirds deliberately shading cells with an outstretched wing so that the lamp comes on and keeps them warm.

The Great Crested Grebe family from the Long Water ...

... and the Little Grebes were both on the Serpentine side of the bridge. They were quite close together but there was no conflict.

The Black Swan had gone the other way on to the Long Water. He saw me and promptly came over for some sunflower hearts.

The mother Mute Swan 4DVZ and her two teenage cygnets preened in the drizzle at Fisherman's Keep as a Grey Heron stalked past.

The Greylag Goose family cruised past in an orderly fashion. There are two pairs of adults here as well as the young geese, but they are probably all related.

Canadas took advantage of the absence of people and dogs to come ashore near the Triangle and browse on what grass was left. The grass is already beginning to recover from the drought and their are some greenish patches.

Owl in two sizes

A Rose-Ringed Parakeet was eating the red fruits of the big yew tree in the Dell. They are messy feeders and tend to waste a lot.

In the other yew at the corner, a Blue Tit ...

... and a Coal Tit were waiting impatiently for their pine nuts.

The Robin at the southwest corner of the bridge looked up in annoyance ...

... at a Jay perched on a branch overhead.

A Chiffchaff flitted through the trees on the other side of the path, hard to see among the twigs.

A Starling on a big flower pot at the Lido restaurant loudly addressed the other Starlings. Was it telling them that it wass the boss?

The male Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery looked down from the plane tree during a sunny spell.

When I came back three hours later he was in the same place, but it had clouded over and he was feeling a bit chilly and had fluffed himself up. You wouldn't think it was the same bird.

A young Grey Heron was fishing beside the half-timbered boathouse. It's not as good a place as the other boathouse where fish can swim in and out under the walls, but the fishing spots here are owned by senior herons so it has to make do with second best.

There was a motley collection on the fallen tree at Peter Pan: a Grey Heron, a Cormorant, Egyptian Geese, Pochards, Tufted Ducks, a Shoveller (swimming away below the Egyptians) and a Black-Headed Gull.

The Great Crested Grebes with three chicks on the Long Water have been staying in the shelter of a big poplar overhanging the water. Now their parents have judged that it's safe to bring them out on the open water to a good fishing spot.

They are definitely not the same as the grebes from the nest on the north side of the Serpentine island. These were out today as well, by the reed bed east of the Lido.

The Little Grebes were under the bridge. A chick was preening while waiting for a parent to arrive with a fish ...

... which caused a wild flurry.

A male Migrant Hawker dragonfly hunted over the reeds by the bridge.

Common Carder bees are all over the park, here on lavender at the east end of the Serpentine ...

... and vervain in a planter in the Italian Garden.

Sloe time

A female Blackbird was eating sloes in a blackthorn tree at the east end of the Lido.

The Coal Tits in the Dell were waiting for their pine nuts. This is the female.

A Jay at the Serpentine Gallery had already taken one peanut, but hung around till I gave it another.

The male Little Owl looked down from the plane tree.

A Grey Heron in the Dell couldn't see to fish in the thick green algae covering the Dell stream, so it was checking the bushes for rats.

A pair of Cormorants played with a twig on the edge of the Serpentine island. 

The Little Grebe family had gone under the bridge on to the Serpentine, and the three chicks were in full cry. Two of them competed for a fish.

The three Great Crested Grebe chicks on the Long Water could be seen under the poplar tree with their father.

The two chicks ...

... and the single one on the Serpentine were harrying their parents unmercifully.

The Black Swan and his Mute mate 4GIQ were near the bridge, touting for treats from the Sunday visitors.

The Egyptian Geese in the Italian Garden had taken over the Coots' nest in the southeast pool. The Coots have two nests here and can spare one, but they weren't pleased.

Several of the large family of Mandarins on the Round Pond have come down to the Long Water.

A Juniper Shield Bug, Cyphostethus tristriatus, climbed over the railings at the east end of the Lido. It seems to have a damaged left forewing.

A pair of Willow Emerald damselflies, with a fine copper-coloured female, hung from a stem on the waterfront at Peter Pan.

There are still plenty of Migrant Hawker dragonflies in the brambles and long grass at the southeast corner of the Italian Garden.

A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee wandered over a clump of stonecrop in the Dell, taking a sip of nectar from each small floret.

The Band of the Royal Yeomanry were giving a Sunday concert in the Hyde Park bandstand. They are playing Arsenio Rodriguez' 'El Cumbanchero'.

Chiffchaffs

Chiffchaffs can be heard calling all over the park, and there are families at the east end of the Lido and here at the southwest corner of the bridge. I got a picture of a worn one on a holly twig ...

... and Ahmet Amerikali found a much neater one, probably one of this year's brood now in adult plumage.

One of the young Jays followed me here ...

... and the usual Robin made an appearance.

A young Robin came out on the path in the Rose Garden, evidently the very late hatched one we saw here a week ago.

A Wood Pigeon was eating the leaves of the plants in the herbaceous border of the Rose Garden.

A young one was sunbathing by the Serpentine Gallery ...

... where the male Little Owl was out in the big plane tree.

Ahmet found one of the young Hobbies flying over Buck Hill looking for grasshoppers, of which there are plenty in the long grass.

A Starling looked down haughtily from an umbrella at the Lido restaurant.

The female Coal Tit in the Dell peeped shyly out from the corkscrew hazel bush.

A Cormorant at the Serpentine island jumped on to a chain, just managed to keep its balance, and climbed on to a post.

The teenage Great Crested Grebe rested in the water nearby.

The youngest chicks on the Long Water were under the big poplar tree. One came into sight for a moment, here seen from across the lake.

The Little Grebe chicks were under the bridge waiting for a parent to bring a fish.

A Moorhen near the Lido had three quite young chicks. They hide their nests expertly, so you never know where a family is going to turn up.

An Egyptian Goose on the Serpentine had a brisk wash and flap.

A bright fresh Chicken of the Woods fungus has come out on a cherry tree near Peter Pan.