New Great Crested Grebe chicks on the Long Water

Three more Great Crested Grebe chicks have unexpectedly turned up on the Long Water, under a big poplar tree on the east side. 

They were quite far away and I only noticed them because I saw a parent carrying a fish up the lake. Here two parents arrived simultaneously with fish and two of the chicks got fed.

Three of the Little Grebe chicks had moved out from the willow by the bridge, with one parent. Squeaks from under the willow showed that the fourth chick was there with the other parent.

Two of chicks came out on to the open water and tried to grab a fish. One shooed the other away, only for it to sneak round the back and get the fish.

The parents eat any fish too large for the chicks. This one had caught a ruffe, which it had to turn round before swallowing it head first because of the spint dorsal fin.

On the Serpentine, the two Great Crested Grebe chicks from the east end of the island were relentlessly chasing their father.

The single chick from the nest at the Dell restaurant is growing fast. The bare red spot on its forehead has almost disappeared as it begins to grow a little crest.

A Cormorant on the Long Water looked up at three Canada Geese flying overhead.

The three young Grey Herons in the fifth nest are still staying there, although they are climbing around nearby branches. I can't declare the end of the very long breeding season, which started last December, to the Heronries Census until they definitely leave, but if all goes well there will be 15 young fledged, two down from last year but still a good result.

A heron stood by a boathouse in a Guardsman's attitude.

Pigeon Eater was being pestered by a young gull, although this had already got something to eat. He quite gently escorted it off his patch.

The male Little Owl could be seen in the usual lime tree.

A Jay was waiting for its daily peanut near the Italian Garden.

Long-Tailed Tits were at work in the catalpa trees.

The Robin in the Flower Walk was getting impatient, although it only had to wait a few seconds for a pine nut.

A Wren foraged behind the railings of the Dell.

A Harlequin Ladybird climbed on the railings near the Italian Garden. The iron railings are oddly attractive to insects, often perched on by dragonflies and damselflies. Part of the attraction is that they get warm in the sunshine, but these railings were in the shade. The local Garden Spiders know that insects come hear and spin their webs between the spikes.

A very late young Robin

The Little Grebe family remained under the willow tree at the bridge. Occasionally an adult and one of the chicks would emerge for a moment.

They were sharing the space with a Coot and its chick, which could be seen from the path but the grebes were hidden in the leaves. 

There was also a Black-Headed Gull hanging around hoping to grab a fish from one of the grebes. It was passing the time by catching midges. At 20 seconds into this clip it missed a Common Blue damselfly which dodged nimbly out of the way.

I heard that there were two Little Grebes on the Round Pond and went up, but they had gone. Very likely the teenager seen on the Serpentine yesterday was one of them. There was no sign of them here either today. They may have come up from St James's Park and returned there.

However, the eleven Mandarin teenagers were visible all around the edge of the pond.

A Great Crested Grebe chick on the Serpentine had a vigorous preening session and a good flap.

Its mother kept an eye on it. This is the single surviving chick from the nest under the Dell restaurant balcony.

The two chicks from the east end of the island could be seen from across the lake in their usual place.

But the newest family remained hidden in the bushes and wire baskets surrounding the island.

One of the young Grey Wagtails perched on a basket. It's already independent but still very pale and hasn't yet grown its adult yellow feathers.

Moorhens searched for food on the lower bowl of the marble fountain in the Italian Garden, with algae above and below. The northern end of the Long Water is a mess at the moment, but the promised rain should clear it up.

A party of Cormorants settled on the fallen tree at Peter Pan, displacing most of the Pochards.

The Czech Black-Headed Gull looked out over Fisherman's Keep from his favourite post. The ugly proliferation of notices round the lake has at least benefited the gulls.

The male Little Owl was in the lime tree that is often visited by both of the pair.

A very late young Robin, still half in juvenile plumage, appeared in a flower bed in the Flower Walk.

The big pyracantha bush at the Queen's Gate crossing had an adult Robin ...

... a Blue Tit ...

... and several Great Tits.

A young Wood Pigeon on the hedge below reached for a berry.

A late and slightly tattered Willow Emerald damselfly rested on a twig in the Dell.

Another Little Grebe

A surprise today: another Little Grebe, a teenager, on the Serpentine. 

It was diving busily and completely ignoring the people who were looking at it on the shore. Did the adult pair on the Long Water, at present with small chicks, breed earlier in the year, or did this one fly in from somewhere?

The family on the Long Water have stayed under the collapsed willow by the bridge, a good spot as the tree gives excellent cover and there are plenty of small fish among the submerged branches. Occasionally one or two come out in the open and can be photographed from not too far away.

A Great Crested Grebe on the Serpentine stood up to shake out his wings.

The staff of the boat hire service on the lake have powerboats with 55 horsepower outboard motors and race about like complete hooligans, endangering humans and birds alike and raising an enormous wake. A Moorhen and her chick on the edge by the island were disturbed by the crashing waves.

A teenage Moorhen wandered along a floating branch in the Long Water. It's just beginning to develop its adult red bill.

There was a large mob of Coots on the Long Water. Every year there are more of these prolific birds, at the expense of the Moorhens which they persecute.

The Greylag family group was resting on the edge at Fisherman's Keep. It includes several adults as well as the young ones, all presumably related as they always stick together.

The four Egyptian goslings were nearby with their devoted mother.

One of the Cormorants at the island, apparently always the same one, likes balancing precariously on a chain even when there is a stable post to stand on.

Pigeon Eater was dozing on the Dell restaurant roof, probably after a large lunch, with his mate preening beside him.

A Black-Headed Gull turned downwind and was ruffled by the brisk breeze.

The female Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery appeared in her usual lime tree in the afternoon.

A couple of Carrion Crows enjoyed the spray from the marble fountain in the Italian Garden.

This Magpie near the Buck Hill shelter had been given a walnut. If they are spoilt with expensive treats they'll start scorning the humble peanuts I give them.

A Jay waiting in a willow looked to be a young one, immaculate unlike the adults worn threadbare by raising them.

The usual Robin in the Flower Walk has also lost a lot of feathers. There are two Robins in this section, both tatty and almost certainly a pair, and although the breeding season is long over they haven't yet started fighting each other. Some of the Robins are just beginning to sing again.

The durable strawflowers in the Rose Garden are much visited by hoverflies. This is a European Drone Fly, Eristalis arbustorum, which has been more numerous this year than the Common Drone Fly E. tenax.

A closer view of the Little Grebes

The Little Grebe pair and their four chicks, previously only visible at a distance on the Long Water, came right up to the bridge and could be filmed looking down from the parapet. I've left the noisy soundtrack of traffic and passers by unchanged so that you can hear the chicks squeaking.

Later they all crossed the lake to the weeping willow on the other side.

This fish was right at the limit of what a Great Crested Grebe chick that size could swallow, and its mother had to keep picking it up and presenting it before the chick got it down.

A Cormorant in the Italian Garden had no difficulty in swallowing a large carp. Thanks to Ahmet Amerikali for this picture.

A Coot on the Long Water confronted a Black-Headed Gull which had occupied its nest. For a moment it looked as if the gull would win ...

... but the angry Coot soon sent it off.

Three Mute Swans flew up the Serpentine in close formation ...

... and a skein of Greylag Geese passed the big trees by the boathouses.

The Reed Warblers are still here, and Ahmet got a picture of one of them by the Diana fountain.

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

A Carrion Crow landed on the Huntress fountain in the Rose Garden carrying a crisp. Crows don't like crisp things ...

... so the snack was dunked in the water to make it acceptably soggy.

Two Jackdaws turned up on the lawn nearby and set to work opening the peanuts I gave them.

One of the tatty Jays in the Flower Walk was also waiting for one ...

... and a Blue Tit came out for a pine nut.

Long-Tailed Tits were at work in an almost leafless horse chestnut tree hit by both drought and leaf miner moth.

A Great Tit waited among ripening holly berries near Temple Gate.

A Common Carder bee browsed on yet another kind of vervain in a planter in the Italian Garden, Tuberous Vervain, Verbena rigida. I had no idea there were so many species of this plant.