A nasty shade of turquoise

A Grey Wagtail hunting on the thick smelly mat of algae under the Italian Garden found a noisome larva. It seems that the problem with blue-green cyanobacteria is getting worse every year, and only moderately warm weather is needed to bring the stuff up. But there's really nothing that can be done about this, as any countermeasures would wreck the delicate ecology of the lake.

A young Blackbird, still with some gingery juvenile feathers, came down to the Dell stream to have a drink and wash its face.

A Blue Tit ...

... and a Coal Tit were in a sycamore sapling. They still haven't found a comfortable place to perch after the wanton destruction of the corkscrew hazel bush.

A Robin at Mount Gate was probably one of this year's young ones, with fresh adult plumage.

One of the regular Robins in the Flower Walk checked the sky overhead to see if it was safe to come over for a pine nut.

The male Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was showing off the magnificent eyebrows he inherited from his father, who was the smallest Little Owl with the biggest eyebrows I've ever seen.

It's impossible to go anywhere between the Flower Walk and the bridge without being picked up by the four Jays insistently demanding peanuts.

You don't often get a Carrion Crow and a Great Crested Grebe in the same picture. They were at Fisherman's Keep, and completely ignored each other. They live in different worlds.

The grebes from the east end of the island were each taking care of one chick. These two were not far from their nest ...

... and the others were at the far end of the island. The chick seemed uncomfortably close to a Cormorant, but in fact I've never seen much conflict between the species. A grebe is much quicker off the mark than a heavy Cormorant.

A chick on the Long Water got too pushy with a parent and was chased away.

One of the young Grey Herons from the fifth nest was fishing from the jetty at the Lido.

They are entirely independent now, and if you see a heron in that nest it's always an adult.

A Honeybee browsed on lantana flowers in the Rose Garden.

I think this black bee on a Michaelmas daisy is a Carpenter Bee, some species of Xylocopa. It wouldn't pose for a better picture and soon vanished into the dense clump. Later: a good suggestion that it might be Andrena scotica.

The gaudy flowers planted to cheer up the drab view of the bandstand lavatories include this strange Bird of Paradise Flower, Strelitzia reginae.

Chiffchaff in an oak

A Chiffchaff was calling and bouncing around in the top of an oak at the Triangle, and by chance came into view for just long enough for one snatched picture.

In the Flower Walk, that look that tells you to put down the camera and produce some pine nuts.

A Blue Tit in the yew in the Dell was also expecting prompt service.

A Jay rummaged for insects in wood chips laid down around the statue of Peter Pan.

Starlings at the Lido restaurant waited on the weathervane.

The male Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was on the usual branch in the plane tree.

At the Dell restaurant, Pigeon Eater strode up to chase rivals away from a bit of flatbread.

The Great Crested Grebe family from the north side of the island were by the reed bed east of the Lido.

The young Moorhen by the island looked round from the kerb. It's getting its adult yellow legs.

Cormorants clustered on the fallen poplar on the east side of the Vista.

It was a busy scene, with the Black Swan and 4GIQ at the edge ...

... and the single cygnet alone as usual, with no sign of its parents who were last seen on the other side of the bridge.

A Red-Crested Pochard drake, now in his smart breeding plumage, washed and preened, fluffing up his ginger bouffant with a foot.

A Tufted drake was well on his way to full breeding plumage with bright white sides.

More Shovellers have arrived.

The fox by the Vista is now well used to people leaning over the railings and throwing him food, and doesn't flinch even when a dog goes by, safely kept away by the railings.

A squirrel in the Dell reached down a willow twig to eat the tender leaves at the tip. Willow leaves are also liked by swans and geese.

A Buff-Tailed Bumblebee browsed on Michaelmas daisies in the Rose Garden.

Little Owls switching over

The new Great Crested Grebe chick could be seen from Peter Pan on the far side of the lake with its parents.

This fish was too large, so the adult ate it.

There are still plenty of small fish suitable for chicks. This is one of the two from the north side of the island.

The teenager from the Dell restaurant nest was still pestering its mother and got chased away.

It started fishing busily at Fisherman's Keep. It probably was catching some of the little fish at the edge, but these are small enough to eat without surfacing.

A Grey Heron joined a Mute Swan and some Coots on the remains of the nesting raft at the Triangle. This view from the other side of the lake shows that it is kept afloat by PVC drainpipe. This must have leaked, causing the raft to list more and more. The wooden structure behind it is the row of boxes of water plants at the edge.

The Black Swan and 4GIQ were at the landing stage by the Diana fountain. I heard that the former boss pair on the Long Water, 4HDW and 4DTT, had been seen on the Serpentine looking miserable. Who knows what disputes have been going on unseen by us?

The two dominant Black-Headed Gulls on the south side of the lake: The Czech visitor, visiting some people on a bench to tout for titbits ...

... and the one on the landing stage, which keeps away from humans.

When I first went past the Little Owls' plane tree by the Serpentine Gallery the female owl was looking down from the usual branch ...

... but when I passed again three hours later it was the male in exactly the same place. Yes, Little Owls can change their size by fluffing up their feathers, and they can adjust their eyebrows, but really there is no way that these two pictures can show the same bird.

Both the Peregrines were on the barracks tower, but the female was flying out from time to time and was away when I went by, so this picture shows only the male.

A sad event in the Dell: the corkscrew hazel bush which gave shelter to several small birds has been cut down. The Blue Tits ...

... and Coal Tits were flitting around confusedly trying to find somewhere comfortable.

A Grey Wagtail hunted by the Dell restaurant.

There are still quite a few Small White butterflies in the Rose Garden. One rested on a lantana.

A Common Wasp applied itself to an ivy flower at the back of the Lido.

A few warm days have brought out more cyanobacteria under the Italian Garden, and the breeze carried in their foul stench.

An unexpected grebe chick

There is at least one more Great Crested Grebe chick on the Long Water. I was at Peter Pan and saw a pair in the distance on the far side of the lake, wondered what they were doing, and took a picture. And this is what it shows. These, the second pair to breed on the Long Water, had been several times near the reeds on the east side and they must have nested there out of sight.

This is one of the chicks from the next youngest set, from the north side of the Serpentine island.

The chicks from the east end of the island were taking a few minutes off pestering their parents to look after their feathers. Their wings are now fully grown but I haven't yet seen one trying to fly.

The Little Grebe chicks were hidden in the bushes on the east side of the Long Water, but one came out in the open for a short time and could be seen from the bridge.

The mob of Coots on the Long Water gets larger and larger.

There were at least 50 Cormorants on the Long Water alone.

Greylag Geese like apples, but it's hard to eat one in the water. This pair at the Lido restuarant were doing their best.

The Black Swan and 4GIQ were also on the edge of the terrace.

A Grey Heron looked for fish in the dark corner under the Dell restaurant balcony.

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

The Robin at the southwest corner of the bridge waited beside a clump of withered blackberries.

The female Coal Tit in the Dell appeared in the corkscrew hazel ...

... and a Blue Tit was in the big yew tree ...

... where a squirrel was eating the fruit.

The fox south of the Vista emerged from the undergrowth.

A Marmalade Fly ...

... and a Greenbottle browsed on ivy flowers at the back of the Lido.

For some years there has been a patch of mauve cyclamen behind the railings southeast of the Italian Garden, and it's gradually spreading. People think of cyclamen as a house plant but it does much better in the open air.