Sunny but dull

A sunny Saturday bringing hordes of visitors to the park is never a good time for seeing birds. Despite two visits to the Serpentine Gallery I missed seeing any of the Little Owls. Even the ubiquitous Great Tits were staying in the bushes. This is one of the pair that nested in the lamp post at the east end of the Serpentine.

A young Starling found an apple core at the Lido restaurant. It looks more as if the bird was fighting it rather than eating it.

An adult on a table glittered in the sunshine.

The Grey Heron chicks in the fourth nest on the Serpentine island are growing rapidly on their nutritious diet of regurgitated fish.

A Coot brought an iris leaf to the nest in the water lilies in the Italian Garden.

The four chicks from the nest under the parapet are now almost adult size.

The Mute Swans with five cygnets were keeping them safely well down the lake ...

... away from the Black Swan, who was madly throwing algae about ...

... and 4GIQ who was looking after their single cygnet by the bridge.

Six Egyptian goslings and their mother were strolling around on the path by the small boathouses, ignoring the passing humans. But if a dog appears in the distance, even on a lead, they will all hurry to the water.

The Mandarin ducklings are quite large now, and were nearby with their mother catching low flying midges.

The Pochard with her single duckling was at the Vista.

A fox looked out of the long grass a few yards to the south of the waterfront.

A large carp cruised around a pool in the Italian Garden.

A Comma butterfly perched on a nettle near Peter Pan.

The edge of the Long Water was crowded with Common Blue damselflies.

Two Buff-Tailed Bumblebees shared a scabiour flower at the back of the Lido.

A Greenbottle fly sunned itelf by the Dell.

Little owlet

The Little Owl pair at the Serpentine Gallery have produced at least one owlet. It looked down from a branch of the old chestnut tree.

Its father was on the other side of the tree.

A Song Thrush sang n a holly tree near Peter Pan.

Coots nesting in a fountain pool in the Italian Garden were taking care of their four chicks.

The Mute Swans with five cygnets came right up the Serpentine, passing within 50 feet of the Black Swan on the nesting raft, and I was worried that he was going to attack them.

But he stayed in place and they went under the bridge on to the Long Water.

Two hybrid geese, three quarters Bar-Headed and a quarter Greylag, fly in from St James's Park every year to moult their flight feathers. This one, which often spends quite a long time here, knows me and came over to collect some peanuts.

Seven Egyptian goslings huddled together for shelter from the gusty wind over the Serpentine.

An Egyptian with two grazed on the lawn east of the Lido.

The nest halfway along the island, which has been occupied by Great Crested Grebes and Coots, is now in the possession of a Tufted drake.

The single Pochard duckling, supervised by its mother, was diving busily at the outflow of a drain into the Long Water. This is a popular spot, evidently because the drain which comes from the Round Pond carries a lot of small edible creatures.

In the Rose Garden a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee climbed into a rugosa rose and spun around to get as much pollen as possible.

A Wool Carder Bee landed on a stachys leaf. They scrape the fluff off these leaves to line their nest, which is how they got their common name.

A Eurasian Drone Fly, Eristalis arbustorum, browsed on a Shasta daisy.

A Seven-Spot Ladybird crossed the path.

The Mount Etna Broom tree by the fountain is in spectacular yellow flower.

Two tiny Yellow Fieldcap mushrooms came up on the lawn between the Rose Garden and the Dell. They are very frail and last only for a day.

More Mandarin ducklings

The Mandarin with two ducklings from the Long Water was on the Serpentine side of the bridge ...

... and there was another Mandarin with two ducklings only a few feet away.

There is also one on the Round Pond last seen with four, and were aren't sure whether there's one more family or the same one has been seen in different places. But anyway, it's been a remarkable year for Mandarins, which in many recent years have never bred in the park at all.

The four Red Crested Pochard drakes were still on the Long Water. One came over to the Vista.

The Coots with the perennially unsuccessful nest on the post at Peter Pan were building it up again ...

... and the new nest in the water lilies in the Italian Garden, which has a much better chance of success, was complete and occupied.

This Coot nested under the balcony of the Dell restaurant, which is Pigeon Eater's territory and he has taken at least one of the brood. But he was away for the time being, so the remaining two chicks could be brought out to feed.

Three Canada x Greylag Goose hybrids were among the geese that have come to moult on the Serpentine.

The Mute Swan 4GIQ and her hybrid cygnet were near the bridge. She shooed a harmless Moorhen.

She has been seen several times with her original mate while the Black Swan is still moping over the infertile eggs.

The swan 4DVZ with five cygnets had come recklessly far up the Serpentine, so it was lucky that the aggressive Black Swan was occupied. She came over hopefully to the shore, and on the way was photobombed by a Swift.

There were a great many Swifts around the Serpentine ...

... and a good number of House Martins.

A Grey Heron made a pefect touchdown on a post at the bridge.

One of this year's young ones, on a fallen tree by the Long Water, took advantage of rain-damped feathers to have a preen.

Two young Magpies on the other side of the bridge flapped and squawked to induce a parent to feed them.

Jays in the Flower Walk ...

... and beside the Long Water were looking soggy in the drizzle but still eager for peanuts.

A young Robin perched on a stump  near the Buck Hill shelter ...

... and a young Starling ate mahonia berries at Mount Gate.

Hesitant Coal Tit

A Coal Tit in a big holly tree at Temple Gate was hesistant about coming to take a pine nut from my hand. After I filmed it, the tiny bird plucked up courage and came down. One they realise it's safe they are unstoppable, and follow you taking pine nuts all the way.

A young Robin in speckled juvenile plumage was in the same tree.

A Wren at the northwest corner of the bridge had caught a grasshopper on Buck Hill and was bringing it  to its nest.

A Long-Tailed Tit family ranged through the bushes at Mount Gate.

A young Great Tit in the bushes beside the Henry Moore sculpture fluttered its wings to encourage its parents to feed it.

There's always a Chiffchaff singing here, but it stays in the treetops hidden in the leaves. However, Ahmet Amerikali got a closer shot of one in Battersea Park.

He also captured a Reed Warbler by the Diana fountain ...

... and I found one in a willow near the Italian Garden.

A longer video of the familiar Song Thrush in the leaf yard giving us his best performance.

Another view of the very confident male Pied Wagtail hunting along the north shore of the Serpentine. 

Pigeon Eater, in his usual place on the Dell restaurant roof, was looking a bit worn about the face, evidently from plunging his beak into the innards of pigeons.

A Grey Heron stared down at a gap in the algae covering a pond in the Italian Garden, waiting for an incautious fish to cross it.

A Coot chick on a nest opposite Peter Pan was annoyed by a Great Crested Grebe looking for fish among the submerged twigs.

The Black Swan came ashore to stretch and flap.

The Mute Swans with five cygnets were on the edge of the Dell restaurant terrace, safely out of the Black Swan's territory. Recently they have been coming up the lake as far as the island. We just have to hope that the two families don't clash.

A Painted Lady butterfly perched on an oxeye daisy.

A very sophisticated red rose in the Rose Garden is of no use to the bees as they can't get into it. But they are crowding into the simple single open roses.

They also like the the cornflowers at the back of the Lido.