The trees at the southwest corner of the bridge are now quite busy after the summer lull. A Chiffchaff perched on top of the dead tree.

A Blackbird searched for blackberries in the brambles growing up inside the trees.

There were also Chaffinches and Blue Tits, which I couldn't get a picture of, and a Great Tit that kept coming to my hand for pine nuts.

When I went to find the Little Owl, a Mistle Thrush flew into the next tree carrying a beetle. After it had eaten it, it started rattling loudly at the owl.

This made the owl nervous and he soon flew off.

The young Carrion Crows are improving their skills in getting peanuts out of the shell, though they can't match the skill of adults who can deal with a peanut in 10 seconds.

There are four new Moorhen chicks in the Italian Garden fountains, the third brood that the pair has had this year though sadly there are no survivors from the other two. They had climbed out of the pool via the duckboard and couldn't get back, and Neil and some Spanish girls had to round them up and put them back -- difficult because they can run like the wind. He will temporarily remove the duckboard. By the time they have grown enough to jump out they will be able to jump back. Neil took this picture of a tiny chick on his smartphone, all he had with him at the time.

When I went back later they were safely in a planter being fed by their parents.

The two chicks in the Dell were fed by a parent ...

... and one of the two near the bridge wandered around under the willow tree.

The Coot family in the Italian Garden were comfortably established in their new nest.

Great Crested Grebes' long powerful legs get cramped when folded, and the birds wave them or stretch them, often stretching a wing at the same time.

A Pochard idled under the parapet of the Italian Garden. Unfortunately I didn't notice at the time that it had a ring (upside down and on the wrong leg). Although it's a British ring its number might lead to a history of its migration. I'll keep an eye out for it and try to get the rest of the number.

 

A family of Mute Swans on the Serpentine amused themselves by getting in people's way on the path.

Mike Harris was swimming in the Serpentine when a swan started taking off directly towards him. It realised its error and hastily airbraked to a stop. Mike recorded this dramatic sequence on his waterproof camera.

Robins have started singing again after their summer break. They will carry on for the rest of the year, the only songbird that sings regularly in autumn and winter.

The male Little Owl was back in the nest tree.

Carrion Crows are now often stealing apples stuck on the spiked railings by people trying to feed the Rose-Ringed Parakeets. This crow had taken it several hundred yard away to eat it in peace.

A Wood Pigeon looked down from a holly tree where it was eating unripe berries.

Andrew Skeet found and photographed the female Kestrel.

She caught a beetle and carried it off.

The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull was relaxing after a heavy meal.

He didn't bother to chase away the young Herring Gull that was eating his leftovers.

The Great Crested Grebes on the Long Water have now started carrying their chicks around, though they still remain near the safety of the bushes on the far side of the lake. I could only get a picture with one chick showing.

One of the chicks from the Serpentine island was preening.

Moorhens nest every year in the collapsed willow tree near the bridge, though their nest site can't be seen from any angle. They came down the tree to look for insects in the disused Great Crested Grebes' nest.

The Moorhens in the Dell have some new chicks. Only one could be seen, but the way their mother is standing suggests that she is sheltering more.

Two teenage Moorhens are now often seen on the platform at Bluebird Boats. I don't know where they come from. They are too old to be from the nest in the cardboard box, where all chicks were lost after they came down into the water.

There were 17 Red-Crested Pochards on the Long Water this morning, an unusually high number. There is a big flock of them in St James's Park and some of them come over to visit occasionally. As usual almost all of them are drakes, now in eclipse and with the same plumage as females but their red bills and eyes give them away. There is a female at the end of this video, with brown eyes and a dark bill with a slight reddish tinge along the edges.

The terrapins on the Long Water are surprisingly good climbers.

A Common Carder bee browsed in a clump of Verbena bonariensis in the Dell.

A quick walk round the park before going to Richmond. Today it was the turn of the female Little Owl to be in the nest tree.

A Yellow Wagtail appeared unexpectedly on the busy path by the Diana fountain. This is the first one I've seen in the park. though it's on the list of all-time sightings.

A Cormorant at the island found itself on a chain leading up to a post occupied by another Cormorant, and had to get off and find somewhere else to dry its wings.

A young Herring Gull dived repeatedly into the Serpentine.

A Great Crested Grebe chick reached out for a fish.

A Speckled Wood butterfly rested in the grass.

At Richmond we had hoped to see the Tawny Owl but were out of luck. Tom thinks it was frightened away by photographers getting too near the tree. But we had the consolation prize of a Little Owl beautifully camouflaged against a dead tree.

A male Kestrel perched on a hawthorn. After our cautious approach he was quite calm about cameras being pointed at him.

In the bracken there were several young Stonechats ...

... and a young Reed Bunting.

Buzzards circled high overhead. At one time there were four of them.

There was a Mallard family on Pen Ponds ...

... and a Canada x Greylag hybrid goose which looked remarkably like one sometimes seen in Hyde Park. But I've checked my pictures and it isn't the same bird. Possibly a sibling.

Three Willow damselflies on trees by Pen Ponds. The second shot shows the first one eating an aphid.

Here is a close-up of the same insect.

This isn't a great picture of a Brown Hawker dragonfly.

As I was climbing down a bank to get a closer shot it took off and landed on my nose. Sadly even Tom's quick reflexes weren't enough to get a picture.

Julia got a remarkable photograph of a Hummingbird Hawk Moth in Notting Hill, a most unusual sight in central London.

A Chiffchaff was still singing near the bridge, and came out on a twig for a moment.

A Wood Pigeon was picking off elderberries in another tree.

A Starling won two bits of mozzarella from a pizza at the Lido restaurant.

A view of the male Little Owl in the pair's nest tree. Now it seems to be the turn of the female to be elusive.

Virginia got a fine shot of an adult Hobby in a treetop near the Old Police House.

The stranded young Hobby was released two days ago while its parents were within earshot, and promptly joined them. It hasn't been found on the ground again as far as I know, so it looks as if the rescue has been successful.

Two Grey Herons waited on the edge of a picnic in Kensington Gardens, hoping to be given scraps. The park herons are ridiculously tame.

One of them got a cherry tomato, not a heron's usual food but the red colour encouraged the bird to eat it.

A Cormorant caught a perch on the Serpentine.

The oldest of the Great Crested Grebe chicks, now a teenager and beginning to fish for itself, enjoyed a good stretch.

The Coot and its single chick in the Italian Garden are now comfortably established on their second nest in the water lilies.

Tom got an interesting shot of a Moorhen in Regent's Park confronting a terrapin on a disused Coot nest.

He also found a Tufted Duck there with four ducklings.

A Tufted drake on the Serpentine turned upside down to preen.

A Common Carder Bee browsed on a Clerodendrum in the Dell.

While I was photographing it a disturbance caught my eye, and there was a Hornet struggling in a spider's web. I though it was stuck and went to find a bit of stick to release it. But when I came back it had gone. Looking at the picture later, I think it was stealing a wrapped-up hoverfly from the web. This had certainly gone when the Hornet left.

The spider was busy farther up the web. I thought it was a Garden Spider, the usual species in the Dell, but from the picture it seems to be something else, I don't know what.