Hot herons

The hot sunshine kept the small birds in the Flower Walk in the shade. This is the familiar Coal Tit.

But they were happy enough to come out for a pine nut. This is Neil's picture of one of his regular Great Tits on the fence.

A Jay was expecting a peanut.

A Magpie drank from the bird bath, unfailingly refilled every day by the gardeners ...

... before coming down for a peanut of its own.

A Feral Pigeon sunbathed on the path.

The pair of Robins in the leaf yard have split up at the end of the breeding season. Both were lurking in a yew tree some distance apart making menacing noises at each other. And so it will be until they get together again next spring.

Neil got a remarkable shot of one of the Little Owlets at the Round Pond sunbathing at the hole in the dead tree where their parents nested.

I found two here, though it's impossible to tell whether these three pictures show three different owlets.

Only one was visible at the Serpentine Gallery, where their mother was out on a well shaded branch.

One of the young Grey Herons in the nest on the island panted and vibrated its throat to cool down, then spread its wings in that distinctive heron attitude which may be as much for removing parasites as for basking. The other young heron took advantage of its sibling's shade.

The young Coots from the nest at the bridge are finally making an effort to find their own food, though they are still squeaking plaintively as long as a parent is within sight.

A Greylag Goose enjoyed an apple, deftly keeping it away from a Canada Goose trying to take it.

The female Pochard is still standing on the weir where she has been for several days. I really don't know whether her ducklings are alive below the weir and she is keeping watch over them, of whether she has just decided that it's a good place to hang out.

A new bee from Duncan Campbell: it's a Leafcutter Bee, possibly Willughby's Leafcutter, Megachile willughbiella.

He reminds me that the Ivy Bee ought to be on the list -- the only bee in the park that I've seen and he hasn't. The list is still being confirmed and updated and will be republished in due course.

A very pleasing picture by Nick Abalov of a Large White butterfly in the Flower Walk.

A new wasp in the Rose Garden

The Little owlets aren't being fed much during the daytime when the park is open and their parents can't safely hunt on the ground. This one at the Serpentine Gallery was clearly hungry, and was chewing a branch. It would have to wait till dusk for a proper meal.

Its mother was on a nearby branch. I'm sure she does her best to feed her two owlets when the park closes and they seem healthy and active.

An owlet at the Round Pond was also waiting. I could hear another one in the next tree but it was hidden by leaves.

Their father was in the next tree, looking sleepy. He has stopped shouting at me.

A Wood Pigeon in the Flower Walk dug a hole in a clump of Lords and Ladies. Evidently it was looking for food, but I don't know what it was hoping to find.

A young Great Tit on a twig above was looking very dapper, unlike its parents made tatty by the long task of bringing up their young.

I've commented before on Feral Pigeons preferring mates of their own colour. The male black and white pigeon on the right has been courting this female for several days, but she doesn't seem impressed by him and keeps her distance.

Two pigeons beside the Serpentine had fallen victim to gulls. A Carrion Crow finished off the remains of one near the Dell restaurant.

There are still only a few Cormorants. These two were at the Serpentine island, and a third was fishing in the lake.

The Moorhen nest in the little stream in the Dell has been going for a fortnight, and with luck there should be some chicks in a week or so.

Two Red-Crested Pochard drakes crossed the Long Water.

Here is something I haven't seen before. This largish wasp, about ¾in (20mm) long, was on a miniature ergyngium in the Rose Garden. The purple sheen on its wings seemed to be its own colour and not a reflection of the surrounding flowers. As far as I can identify it, it's a Grass-Carrying Wasp maybe of the genus Isodontia. 

An ordinary Honeybee browsed on an ordinary dahlia, but it made quite a pretty snap.

I'm baffled by this thing in a flower bed in the Flower Walk that was attracting Honeybees. It looks like a small jar sealed with a cork and exuding honey or some sugary liquid. I didn't want to disturb the bees by digging it up, so it remains a mystery.

A Speckled Wood butterfly basked on a ivy leaf.

A male Black-Tailed Skimmer dragonfly perched on a reed stem to eat an insect it had just caught.

A pair mated on the railings.

The pomegranates beside the Diana fountain are developing well in the sunshine.

Young Goldcrest

Goldcrests nest every year in the yew tree near the bridge. Here is one of the fledglings.

Ahmet Amerikali photographed a Blackcap nearby. The young ones are now well grown, so it's not certain whether this is young or an adult female.

Neil found a young Robin just getting its red breast.

A pair of Magpies gazed fondly at each other.

The hot dry weather has caused a premature fall of leaves. A Feral Pigeon made itself comfortable on them.

One of the Little owlets could be seen in a horse chestnut tree by the Round Pond.

Its father gave me a fierce look.

The female Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery is so blasé about being started at that even when three people arrive she doesn't bother to look down.

A fair number of Black-Headed Gulls have now come back to the lake.

Most of the Coot family at the bridge were sheltering from the sun under the collapsed willow tree.

Another brood of Mallards has come out on the Serpentine. Despite the gulls and crows, some ducklings always survive every year.

These five Egyptian goslings were tiny and fluffy when I last saw them, but they have shot up and are now handsome little creatures.

Two Emperor dragonflies and a Black-Tailed Skimmer, all male, perched on the reeds below the Italian Garden.

Nick Abalov got a lovely picture of a Small White butterfly in flight.

A Red Admiral used its long proboscis to drink nectar from a Busy Lizzie flower.

Mario pointed out that the Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner moths (Cameraria ohridella) that are making such a mess of our trees are visible on the trunk -- if only just, as they are 4mm long. This isn't much of a photograph but it's the best I could manage.

Neil saw this fly on a Creeping Thistle flower and couldn't identify it. Conehead 54 writes that it's a conopid fly, Sicus ferrugineus, a parasite of bumblebees. The grisly details are in his comment below.

A Chiffchaff family

Mid-July is late in the year for a Chiffchaff to be singing, but this one had a new family in the brambles under a tree near the leaf yard.

One of the young ones waited ...

... for its mother to arrive with an insect for it.

The usual Coal Tit in the Flower Walk came out to be fed ...

... and so did this Robin, but something I couldn't see (probably a Magpie) annoyed it and it started scolding.

A young Blackbird came out in the flower bed below. I gave it some raisins, which it took to at once.

The female Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery wasn't being pestered by her owlets for once ...

... and could enjoy a quiet preening session.

The owlets by the Round Pond were also quiet. I just heard one brief call, not enough to make it possible to find them. Their parents had moved a few yards north of their usual trees. Here is the male, indignant as usual ...

... and the female looking down with mild curiosity. But I think that as the two families become quieter and move around more we're going to lose sight of them soon.

A Wood Pigeon sunbathed under the Henry Moore sculpture.

A Peregrine circled over the Albert Memorial and headed off southwards.

Mark Williams sent a pleasing picture of two young Jays in St James's Park.

One of the three Mute cygnets on the Long Water had wandered off and lost contact with its siblings, and was piping sadly. It saw them from a distance and came over to rejoin them, and they exchanged greetings.

A Red Admiral butterfly perched on a nettle near Peter Pan.

Jabir Belmehdi got a remarkable shot of a male Buff-Tailed Bumblebee mating with a queen, which is much larger than him.