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.

Hunting in a tree

Reed Warblers are always hard to see in the reeds. I heard one singing in the reed bed east of the Lido, and then some bird flew up into a tree and I snatched some hasty shots -- but in fact I seem to have got a female Blackcap. Well, one warbler is as good as another. It looked out ...

... and hung upside down from a twig.

The holly trees at Temple Gate had several families of Great Tits leaping about. A young one came out on a twig for a moment.

Both the male Chaffinches in the Flower Walk arrived to be fed. This is the younger one.

The male Pied Wagtail near the boat hire platform was running around intrepidly between the feet of passing humans.

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

As I was taking this picture there was an alarm call of another Little Owl from the other chestnut, probably directed at a Magpie. I couldn't see the owl, but it's an indication that the pair may be nesting in this tree.

Ahmet Amerikali photographed a Cormorant catching a large carp in the Long Water under the marble fountain of the Italian Garden.

A Grey Heron walked round the lower bowl of the fountain looking for a fish.

Three herons and Pigeon Eater were standing on the posts at the bridge. It's not surprising that the Coot nest here never succeeds.

Coots will make nests just about anywhere, and this pair have decided to build one in the water lilies in the Italian Garden fountains.

The Black Swan was back on the nest sitting on the infertile eggs. He has to realise sooner or later that this is futile, but it doesn't seem to have dawned on him yet. Meanwhile the Coots have taken advantage of his temporary absence to rebuild their nest in the corner.

The 'Polish' Mute swan 4FUJ with pale feet was preening on the shore nearby.

The pair with five cygnets were at Fisherman's Keep looking for someone to beg food from.

The Egyptian Geese by the small boathouses are now down to six goslings, They were resting on the horse ride.

An Egyptian guided her two down the busy path beside the Diana fountain. This wasn't as dangerous as it looked, because the goslings could jump through the railings at any sign of danger.

The Common Pochard on the Long Water is closely guarding her last duckling. If it survives it will be the first time to my knowledge that this species has bred successfully in the park. The little duck is already diving like a pro.

Red-Crested Pochards appear and disappear mysteriously in the park, evidently flying from and to other parks. It's unusual to have four at once.

A pink rose in the Rose Garden clearly showed the fivefold symmetry of all members of the Rosaceae family -- and this includes apples, which always have five pips.

Chicks and parents

Young Great Tits in the bushes by the bridge clamoured for their parents to feed them.

A young Long-Tailed Tit at Mount Gate was looking dapper and fluffy ...

... but a parent was frazzled by the strain of nesting and feeding the chicks.

A Reed Warbler near the Italian Garden was catching insects for its young.

Ahmet Amerikali found a Whitethroat near the Buck Hill shelter. It's probably the same bird that I photographed yesterday a few yards away.

A Jay stared grandly from a stump in the Flower Walk.

A large party of Swifts was hunting over the Serpentine, sometimes coming down to catch low-flying midges.

This is the male Pied Wagtail who had a sore foot several months ago. He is now fit again though a small blister remains on his right foot. He was running around the Serpentine Road, sure that he could avoid oncoming dangers thanks to his rocket-like takeoff.

The three Grey Heron chicks looked out from the nest at the east end of the island.

I also heard the clacking of heron chicks from the middle of the island, but the nest was impossible to see from any angle. This would be the fifth nest this year, and there's still time for more.

In the water below, the Great Crested Grebes who lost their eggs halfway along the island were wanting to take the nest back from a pair of Coots that had occupied it. They had no difficulty in removing the Coots, but this could go either way as the stubbornness of the Coots may defeat the agility and sharp beaks of the grebes.

Duncan Campbell shot this close-up view of a brand new Coot chick in a fountain pool in the Italian Garden yesterday.

 When I went back to check today I could only find one more chick, but it's still possible that others are on the way.

A Coot has built a nest in an absolutely idiotic place, on one of the electric pedalos. Quite apart from the fact that the boat will be brought into use, they don't realise that if they make a nest above the water level the chicks won't be able to get back in. Even the other adult is finding it hard to get up.

The Black Swan had finally realised that the remaining eggs on the nest are not going to hatch, and got off to be with his Mute mate and the single cygnet. It may not be much of a result but he was clearly proud of it.

Ahmet Amerikali photographed the mother 4GIQ carrying the cygnet.

The Mute Swan with five cygnets went along the edge of the Dell restaurant terrace, hoping to find someone at at table who would throw them a titbit. It was a grey drizzly day so she was out of luck. She chased off a Grey Heron which might have been thinking of snatching one of her cygnets.

The Common Pochard on the Long Water still had one surviving duckling.

There were two Red-Crested Pochard drakes. Their arrivals and departures are comppletely unpredictable.