Tatty Robin

I hadn't seen the female Robin at Mount Gate for some time. Today she turned up looking very tatty from nesting. I only saw a young Robin here once, scuttling into a bush too fast for a photograph.

A female Great Tit by the Dell was looking exasperated as several fledglings begged at her.

A young Carrion Crow near the Serpentine Gallery pestered its parents for a share of their peanuts, and got fed twice.

Another crow sunbathed in a lime tree.

A pair of Magpies perched amicably side by side near the Vista.

The male Little Owl at the gallery was in an awkward place and I couldn't get much of a picture.

I also heard the owlet calling from the other chestnut tree, but couldn't see it despite checking the tree from all angles. The sound was faint, and probably it was inside the hollow trunk.

Theodore found a Peregrine on the bell tower of Imperial College. It could be the female from the Knightsbridge barracks just 500 yards away. It certainly isn't the male, as he is quite dark and dingy-looking.

A Grey Heron fishing in the Italian Garden stood by a patch of wild vervain that has come up around the ponds. No doubt the gardeners will be sent to pull the plants up, but in fact it's prettier than its cultivated relative Verbena bonariensis which is put deliberately in the park flower beds.

 

A young Lesser Black-Backed Gull had won a chunk of stale bread too large to swallow, but was being harassed by Egyptian Geese while trying to find a safe place to put it down and peck at it.

The seven Egyptian goslings by the small boathouses are growing fast and are now out of danger from being snatched by gulls.

It's clear that when they are moulting their flight feathers geese feel itchy and cross. Greylags on the Serpentine were rushing about and diving to relieve the irritation.

The young Mandarins and their mother, on the path at the Triangle, prevent a Coot from coming ashore. It's one of the ducklings, not the mother, that sends it off -- I've seen them dismissing Coots before.

The Pochard and her duckling at the Vista are very partial to sunflower hearts, and are now coming over whenever I pass by.

A female Black-Tailed Skimmer dragonfly perched on a clump of small pink roses in the Rose Garden.

A Comma butterfly rested on the railings at Mount Gate in front of a hypericum bush.

A patch of Meadow Cranesbill east of the Lido is popular with Honeybees.

A small Garden Spider climbed the railings of the Dell. They like to spin their webs between the spikes at the top.

Hemlock Water Dropwort, reputed to be the most poisonous plant in Britain, is flourishing on the waterfront at Peter Pan. If you mistake it for flat-leafed parsley you face two hours of agony as all your muscles go into spasm till you suffocate.

Keeping away from the kids

When owls have young and are not actively feeding them, they usually perch in another tree to avoid being pestered. This is the father of at least one Little owlet at the Serpentine Gallery in a lime tree 50 yards from the nest.

He looked around and preened briefly, waiting for the park to close so he could hunt on the ground undisturbed.

A young Magpie knew that a monkey nut contains a tasty treat but hadn't yet mastered the technique of shelling it. This is how they learn.

A Jay waited for a peanut, clinging to the trunk of a plane tree.

A handsome bronze Feral Pigeon perched on a post in the Rose Garden. I think pigeon fanciers call this colour Red.

A Great Tit fledgling in the Dell was still relying on its parents to feed it. I've had one young tit come to my hand directly, but only one so far.

The Grey Heron chicks in the nest at the east end of the island were looking over the edge of the nest, curious about the world outside.

Pigeon Eater has already taken at least one Coot chick from the nest directly below his favourite perch on the roof of the Dell restaurant. There are still two left, and have been for several days, but he seems to be leaving them alone for the time being. He had already eaten a pigeon today, as I found the remains on the path.

The Coots nesting by the bridge have more eggs, in a second attempt this year. You can see three here but there may be more.

The nest on the basket a few yards down the shore has been occupied for more than a fortnight now. It's by no means the worst site, and has a slender chance of success.

On the other side of the lake the Mute Swan 4GIQ was cruising with her single hybrid cygnet.

The Mandarin duckings were trying their luck with some people on a bench. They are both bold and aggressive.

The Pochard on the Long Water brought her duckling over to the Vista to apply for some sunflower hearts.

A Comma butterfly near Peter Pan was giving a good impression of a dead leaf. You can see the little white mark on the underwing that give the butterfly its name.

A Red Admiral butterfly landed on the kerb at the Triangle. It was reluctant to display its wings and this is the best shot I could get.

A Common Blue Damselfly clung to an iris leaf in the Rose Garden. This is a long way from the lake, and evidently they are depending on the Huntress fountain for water.

The clump of eryngium at the east end of the Lido is popular with Honeybees.

Young Mistle Thrush

Mistle Thrushes have been very scarce in the park this year, so it was good to find that they have managed to breed. Theodore filmed this young one in a bird cherry tree.

Two Great Tit fledglings in the Dell begged their father to feed them.

A family of Long-Tailed Tits flitted around in the bushes at the southwest corner of the bridge. I only managed to get a picture of an adult.

A Jay at Mount Gate posed in front of a hypericum bush.

The male Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery peeped out from the lime tree.

A Pied Wagtail was collecting insects on the lawn in the Rose Garden.

A Grey Wagtail hunting from the posts at Peter Pan ...

... flew over to perch above the Coots' nest.

The Coots in the Italian Garden were feeding their chicks.

A Coot has built a nest right in the middle of the Long Water. It must be supported on something, maybe a waterlogged fallen branch. Toward the end of the clip you can hear a Marsh Frog croaking in the reed bed next to the Vista.

Here is a better recording of the Marsh Frog. I was alerted to their presence yesterday by Jamie C, and was surprised as I'd never had a report of one before, although I did once find a dead Common Frog which had been dropped by a Grey Heron near the Ranger's Lodge garden.

Grey Herons perched one above the other in a fallen tree on the Long Water by the bridge.

Ahmet Amerikali got a fine shot of one catching a carp in the Italian Garden.

A Greylag Goose ate weeds growing at the edge by the Dell restaurant.

The two Mandarin ducklings on the lake have now passed the most dangerous stage and have a good chance of survival. Here they are eating algae on the edge of the Serpentine by the landing stage.

The hybrid Black x Mute cygnet was also here, with its mother 4GIQ keeping an eye on it. The Black Swan was still on the raft.

A Small White butterfly drank nectar on a bramble flower by the leaf yard.

A worker Honeybee filled her pollen baskets on a Shasta daisy in the Rose Garden.

Repairs to the bridge are finally nearing completion, and the new balustrade is in place. It's been two and a half years since the car crash that brought it down.

Feeding chicks

A male Greenfinch twittered in a tree near Peter Pan ...

... and a family of Long-Tailed Tits passed through a holly next to it ... 

... while across the path a Song Thrush collected worms for a its young.

Young Great Tits could be heard begging all around the Long Water.

The male Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was at the top of the chestnut tree, but I couldn't find an owlet.

The Starling colony at the back of the Lido had decamped en masse to the restaurant, where they lined the roof ...

... and perched on the tower waiting for the chance of a raid on a table.

The Grey Heron chicks in the nest at the east end of the Serpentine were begging frantically whenever a parent visited.

A Coot brought an iris leaf to a nest in the Italian Garden fountains as the chicks milled about.

The idiotically sited nest on the electric boat is still in place.

The Mute Swan 4GIQ is usually near the bridge with her single hybrid cygnet while the Black Swan father is still moping on the raft.

An Egyptian Goose led her seven goslings across the Serpentine Road as a dog approached.

A pair brought their four to the shore near the Lido.

The Mandarin with two ducklings was in the middle of the Serpentine near the bridge ...

... and the Pochard with one came over at the Vista.

The fox near the Vista, which we've seen several times before, was out enjoying the warm sunshine.

A Shasta daisy in the Rose Garden had attracted a bee of the Colletes genus. There are a lot of species, and they are known as Plasterer or Cellophane Bees because they make a kind of plastic to line their nests.

A ground beetle crossed the path. It looks like a Harpalus species, maybe H. rufipes as the legs are reddish. The genus is called after Alexander the Great's treacherous friend Harpalus who was appointed his chancellor and beetled off to Babylon with a large amount of his money.