Little Owl out again

A sunny morning brought the Little Owl at the Round Pond back to her favourite branch.

A Jackdaw regarded the camera gravely from a nearby tree.

There were plenty of Jays around after they had finished their work of burying acorns: two in a tree near the Queen's Temple ...

... and one on the ground.

A Carrion Crow made off with a piece of bread at the Lido restaurant ...

... but the main players here were the Starlings. One had a chip, their favourite snack, and was chased by the others till it fled to a tree to enjoy its prize.

Another liked tomato ketchup.

The young Grey Heron looked up appealingly at some diners on the terrace, hoping to be given a titbit.

I can't resist photographing the Blue Tits in the Flower Walk.

The female Peregrine was alone again. Let's hope this moody bird hasn't had a falling out with her mate.

The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull was eyeing up a possible victim. It saw him in time and flew off.

A young Herring Gull played with the broken top of a bottle.

A Cormorant preened on a post at Peter Pan, using its foot to do the feathers it couldn't reach.

There were five species on the posts: two Cormorants, a Grey Heron, a Lesser Black-Backed Gull, a Common Gull, and five Black-Headed Gulls plus another flying.

This pair of Egyptians are permanent residents at the Diana memorial fountain. People call them Charles and Di. It's impossible not to reflect that if Diana had stuck with Charles she would be Queen and not need a memorial for some time.

Shovellers rested on the gravel strip at the Vista.

The equestrian statue on the Vista is called Physical Energy. It is the last work of the painter G.F. Watts (1817--1904) and only his second sculpture, and it seems likely that the effort of making this huge work killed the aged artist. A group of modern people beside it risked the same fate.

Cormorant catches a perch

A Cormorant was fishing under the bridge, allowing a top view from the parapet. It came up with a perch, which has to be swallowed head first because of the spines on its dorsal fin. It tossed the fish into the air to turn it round, then manoeuvred it to get it into the right position for swallowing. And down the unlucky perch went. I think the sequence is interesting enough to show all the stages -- I hope you do too.

The Great Crested Grebes from the nest by the bridge suddenly decided to take off side by side. They have got their flight feathers back after moulting, and wanted to try them out in case an early frost forces them to fly up the river.

A female Tufted Duck on the Serpentine preened busily, and had a little shrug to settle her feathers.

Starlings hung around the Lido restaurant waiting to scavenge, some passing the time by bathing. When they got their chance they had to contend with Feral Pigeons, and with the Carrion Crow who is the boss here.

The young Grey Heron seems to have settled in now. We can expect him to get bolder until finally he starts jumping on tables and becomes unbearable like his predecessor.

The female Peregrine was on the barracks, looking happier than in yesterday's rain, and gazing around the wide view from her perch.

The female Little Owl at the Round Pond didn't come out of her hole all day. The horse chestnut tree where she used to perch is losing its leaves fast, and is no longer such an attractive place ...

... not least because there are a lot of Magpies around. One perched cheekily on the side entrance to the hollow tree.

Several Pied Wagtails were running around on the grass below.

A flight of Long-Tailed Tits passed through the Rose Garden.

There are Wrens all around the Long Water. This one was near the Henry Moore sculpture.

The Rose-Ringed Parakeets, so well camouflaged in summer, are becoming visible as the leaves turn brown. I didn't know what this tree in the Rose Garden was, and looked it up. It's a Japanese Zelkova, Z. serrata, and it's a few yards from the other Zelkova, the enormous Caucasian Elm Z. carpinifolia.

The fatsia bush near the bridge was full of Common Wasps.

Autumn leaves

A Blackbird poked around in the dead leaves in the Rose Garden shrubbery looking for worms.

He got one.

The Robin in the Flower Walk was as furious as ever.

A Magpie waited in the red leaves of the Pin Oak at the Vista ...

... and a Carrion Crow was framed by the bright yellow leaves of a Black Walnut near the Rose Garden.

A crow looked up from the drinking fountain at Mount Gate. I looked up too but couldn't see what it saw.

Maybe it was one of the Peregrines passing high overhead. I found the female on the tower as it started to rain hard. She looked damp and miserable.

It was also windy. The Little Owl at the Round Pond was saying indoors.

The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull had finished his lunch and was preening his immaculate feathers.

The Black-Headed Gull who owns the landing stage is getting the dark head of his breeding plumage -- very early as he doesn't need it till the spring, but the timing of gulls is highly variable.

Cormorants dried their wings in the wind at the Serpentine island.

A Grey Heron stood over three more on the fallen poplar at the Vista.

One flew into a pool in the Italian Garden and checked the rough water under the fountain, where fish lurk because the disturbance brings up edible creatures.

One of the young Moorhens climbed on to the spray head and investigated the algae.

Two of the others -- there are still four -- looked for food among the water lilies.

The male Great Crested Grebe of the pair at the bridge still has most of his summer plumage, though his mate is now completely monochrome.

Greylag Geese flew up the Serpentine.

Chaffinch games

The female Chaffinch in the Flower Walk has learnt to copy her mate, who flies out to catch a thrown pine nut in midair. She's very good at it already.  They obviously enjoy this game and will keep it up as long as your patience holds out.

The dominant Robin didn't like her and her mate occupying his bush. He can chase out the tits, but Chaffinches are bigger than him, and if they want to stay they will.

The personality of the Robin beside the Henry Moore sculpture is quite different. It's very timid. I've tried coaxing it out to take a pine nut from the path, but it remains hesitant.

A Wren in the leaf yard hopped around ticking irritably at a Magpie.

The Jay by the Albert Memorial, which I haven't seen for a while because it was busy gathering acorns, was back in its usual place expecting a peanut.

The Little Owl at the Round Pond was on her usual branch, but soon after I took this picture it started raining quite hard and she would have had to return to the hole.

The female Peregrine on the Knightsbridge Barracks tower called to her mate. He was only a few yards away along the ledge, so I don't know why she felt the need to shout.

The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull's mate waited for him to finish feeding so she could have her share. It's hard to gauge a gull's mood when it's standing still, but I think her attitude is one of ostentatious weary patience: 'When you've finished, dear, do you think I could have my turn?'

A pleasing picture by Mark William of a young Grey Heron on the bridge in St James's Park. I'm not sure about the purple flower. PlantNet thinks it's Large Speedwell, but some kind of Larkspur or Delphinium seems more likely in a park.

A Cormorant at Peter Pan was trying to dry its wings in the light drizzle.

Two of the young Moorhens in the Italian Garden were eating the well-kept grass along the edge.

An adult in the Dell came down to drink from the stream.

One of the young Great Crested Grebes from the bridge returned to the nest where it first saw the light of day. Another was fishing farther up the Long Water.

Two pairs of Shovellers fed on the Long Water, each one stirring up edible creatures for the other to shovel up. A dozing Great Crested Grebe ignored them.

Four Gadwalls cruised in a line past the gravel strip.

A Tufted drake had a vigorous wash and flap.

The Pochards stay under this tree at the Vista whether it's raining or not.

A smallish bracket fungus was growing on a horse chestnut tree in the Dell shrubbery. Not having a clue what it was, I tried Google Lens which thought it might be an Oligoporus species.