There are two Grey Wagtails in the park now, one on the shore at the Lido and the familiar one on the waterfall in the Dell.

Otherwise it was a day without surprises. I heard the Hobbies calling from a distance and hurried towards the sound but they didn't come into view. The Little Owl on Buck Hill remains unfindable, and her usual hole is occupied by Stock Doves -- which is not a disaster, as she has another up the hill where she nested a few years ago.

There were sights of the regulars. The young Robin behind the Lido is now grown up and looking much smarter than last year's Robins, which are tatty from nesting and feeding their young.

The usual Dunnock lurked in a bush in the Rose Garden ...

... and the young Magpie here has stopped begging and was foraging in a flower bed beside a parent.

One of the Great Tits at the bridge stared impatiently. She wanted to be fed, not photographed.

Another stare from a Starling at the Lido.

The familiar Black-Headed Gull EZ73323 was on the No Swimming sign where it always perches.

A young Herring Gull was begging at a parent, with as little effect as yesterday's young Lesser Black-Back.

Another swallowed a crayfish claw whole. What heroic digestions gulls have.

The Great Crested Grebe family from the east end of the island were at the far end of the lake. When the parent preened, the young grebe instinctively copied it. In the intervals it begged to be fed. Actually we have already seen this bird catching fish for itself.

Two teenage Moorhens probed the paving in the Italian Garden.

The Black Swan was up at the bridge bossing around some Mute Swans.

The youngest Egyptian Goose on the lake is now a handsome teenager, seen here in the horse ride along the Serpentine Road.

The Long Water is full of Pochards, both Red-Crested and Common. It's good to see so many Common Pochards, as the species is in sharp decline and red-listed.

A Greenbottle fly worked over a Michaelmas daisy.

A patch of Poplar Fieldcap mushrooms on a dead tree root near the greenhouses.

Finally, to cheer up a dull blog post, a splendid picture from yesterday by Julia: the female Kestrel was hunting in the Meadow.

Two young Lesser Black-Backed Gulls tried to wheedle their parents into feeding them, without the slightest result except that one parent was irritated and flew away. It's time they fed themselves.

If it were not for this behaviour it would be very hard to tell them from young Herring Gulls. Generally young Lesser Black-Backs are darker, but this juvenile gull is quite dark and it was only when it opened its wings that you could see the pale inner primaries which showed that it was a Herring Gull.

The young Hobbies were flying around and perching in the tall plane trees near the Rima relief.

The little pool at the top of the Dell waterfall is a popular place for many kinds of bird to bathe and drink. Here are a Blue Tit and the usual Grey Wagtail, which is now there daily. This originally very shy bird has become used to people looking over the balustrade and no longer takes any notice of them.

A Carrion Crow also enjoyed a dip in the pool.

A Coal Tit in the Rose Garden waited to come down to the feeder.

One of the young Great Crested Grebes from the west end of the island -- the younger of the two broods here -- was already having a go at fishing under a pedalo, no doubt having learnt from its parents that fish lurk under boats. It didn't catch anything, unlike the older two chicks from the island which are now quite often succeeding.

The young grebes on the Long Water are older still, and could probably support themselves now. But they are still chasing their parents, and will continue to do so until they are definitely kicked out.

There is usually just one Moorhen standing on the weir at the Serpentine outflow. Evidently the other one is on the nest below.

The single cygnet from the Long Water was under the bridge. The family is in an awkward position, because they have been chased off the Long Water by the dominant pair but when they go beyond the bridge they get attacked by the large and violent male who rules the west end of the Serpentine.

A fine picture by Virginia of a swan taking off, skipping along the surface as it hauls itself up.

A pair of Red-Crested Pochards at the Vista. Even when the male is in eclipse and has the same plumage as the female he retains something of the big bouffant hairdo that he will have when he gets back into breeding plumage later in the year.

The female looks much the same all year round.

There are quite a lot of Common Carder bees now. This one was on a knapweed flower in the wildflower patch at the back of the Lido.

It was a windy day.

The three young Hobbies were enjoying it immensely, whirling about with their parents. These two pictures were taken two hours apart.

Then they settled in a tree and one of them ate a small bird, probably a Great Tit, brought by a parent. Another waited for its meal on the next branch.

The Grey Wagtail returned to the pool at the top of the Dell waterfall and stayed fairly still for a bit, allowing a close-up view.

Three Carrion Crows perched on the standing stone. There is a legend that it was brought from Stonehenge by Charles I. This is rubbish. It's just a 7-tonne chunk of Cornish granite installed by a whimsical Victorian to add a bit of rugged grandeur to the scene.

The pair of Lilian's Lovebirds are still around and were calling from inside a tree, where I couldn't get a picture. But a young Chiffchaff was answering them from the next tree, and did come into view briefly.

A female Blackbird foraged under a tree in the Meadow.

I always look for the Little Owl on Buck Hill but haven't seen her for a while. She seems to have found a new tree. The lime where I last saw her was full of Wood Pigeons.

The faithful Polish Black-Headed Gull T4UN has returned, and was on a post on the far side of the Long Water from Peter Pan.

The young Great Crested Grebes from the east end of the island were sheltering from the wind in the lee of the electric boat, and one posed prettily in front of a plastic collision buffer.

The chicks from the other end of the island were out on the lake, one pestering each parent.

A young Moorhen made itself comfortable on a rock in the stream in the Dell.

There are still more Red-Crested Pochards arriving on the Long Water. If anyone is passing the Duck Island in St James's Park, please will they look to see if there are any left there.

That is in addition to the 40-odd Common Pochards on the Long Water, so it's pochards as far as the eye can see.

The three young Mallards on the Serpentine are quite big now and have a good chance of survival. They huddled together in the strong wind and preened.

The young Hobbies were making quite a noise, and I found two of the three, one in the same plane tree as yesterday in front of the Rima relief ...

... and another preening in another plane at the southwest corner of the Ranger's Lodge garden. The feathers on their back have pale tips, while those on an adult are uniform dark grey.

A Grey Wagtail hunted for insects around the small waterfall in the Dell.

A Carrion Crow poked around in the hollow in the base of the large standing stone in the Dell, looking for insects in the dead leaves and debris.

I wondered why, when it has rained quite often recently, this hollow has not filled with water. The Wikipedia article on Hyde Park tells us that the standing stone and its base were originally a drinking fountain before the Dell was fenced off in 1922. So the answer is simply that there's a drain hole in it.

In recent years there have been only a few Lesser Black-Backed Gulls in the park, sometimes as few as two pairs. But suddenly a whole lot have arrived, bringing their families with them. A young gull was begging its parent for food in the middle of the Serpentine.

The rest were on the edge of the swimming area at the Lido. Young Lesser Black-Backs are hard to tell from young Herring Gulls, but their flight feathers are uniformly dark while Herring Gulls have lighter inner primaries. While I watched, all the young gulls spread their wings at some time and they were all Lesser Black-Backs.

One of the young ones was playing with a plane seed.

The pigeon-eating gull is not part of the mob, and was with his mate in the usual place on the other side of the lake. He was thinking about picking up some lunch.

A young Herring Gull played with one of the soiled masks which now litter the ground spreading people's bacteria all over the place (while, as everyone but the government and media knows, they are completely permeable to the famous virus).

The youngest Great Crested Grebe chicks on the Serpentine are now large enough to be extremely noisy and demanding. Their parents feed them plentifully, but most of the time take no notice of their insistent begging.

One of the grebes from the nest near the bridge was busily inspecting one of the wire baskets under the bridge, which is full of twigs and serves as a fish hatchery. But most of the young fish have now moved out, and it didn't get anything.

A Coot enjoyed a power shower under a fountain in the Italian Garden.

A top view of the Black Swan under the bridge.

Blondie was in her accustomed place, scratching her ear.

There are still lots of Red-Crested Pochards on the lake. Perhaps they have moved from St James's Park because the recent hot weather has make the water in its small lake foul -- in the past it has sometimes become completely toxic.