Another Great Crested Grebe nest

There's a second Great Crested Grebe nest on the Long Water, under the collapsed willow by the bridge and partly hidden by leaves. It's still in the early stages of sitting. A grebe preened under the bridge ...

... before going over to greet its mate.

A parent arrived with a small fish for the chicks opposite Peter Pan.

One leaned out too far from its parent's back and fell into the nest. It climbed up again.

A Grey Heron stood on a fallen branch beside the waterfront. It's a young bird but already its bill is looking tatty. This seems to be a difference between individuals and not a sign of old age.

This heron persists in hanging around the Mute Swans' nesting island, where the male was looking after the cygnets. The intruding swan family had gone back to the Serpentine, postponing the clash.

The Mallard with two ducklings confronted a Coot which had got too close to them. The Coot retreated.

There were another two small ducklings on the Hyde Park side of the bridge.

The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull strode ashore with a hungry look in his eye.

The Little owlet at the Serpentine Gallery was out in the lime tree ...

... but it was windy at the Round Pond and the owls had gone indoors. The female looked out from the hole.

Great Tits are so common that you tend to overlook them, but they are very pretty.

This Robin is usually seen hopping around in the bushes at the back of the Lido.

You often find Goldfinches on television aerials in the street, but a Greenfinch is less usual.

The globe thistles in the Rose Garden attract a lot of bees. They were all common Honeybees and Buff-Tailed Bumblebees while I was watching, but it would be a good place to look for the more exotic species.

Wren gets a caterpillar

A Wren hung upside down from an alder twig ...

... reached up ...

... and pulled something down ...

... a green caterpillar with a horn. It looks like the caterpillar of some hawk moth species, but seems too small so I don't know what it is.

I got a reasonable picture of the male Little Owl at the Round Pond and was going away ...

... when I heard a flurry behind me, and there was one of the owlets begging him for food.

The male owl didn't want to be bothered by his youngster and flew off. The owlet soothed its hurt feelings by preening.

A fine picture by Mark Williams taken in Bushy Park: a young Jackdaw begging at an impassive parent. Oddly I've never seen a juvenile Jackdaw in our park, although they breed here.

Elderberries grow on twigs too thin to support a heavy Wood Pigeon, and it had difficulty reaching even a few.

A Cormorant enjoyed a splashy wash at the Serpentine island.

Two Great Crested Grebe chicks looked out from their parent's back on the nest opposite Peter Pan.

They were being fed with tiny fish.

The grebes that were nesting at the Diana fountain but lost their nest were displaying. It's not too late for them to nest again, but they really need to find a better spot.

The dominant Mute Swans invading the Long Water from the Serpentine parked their five cygnets on the gravel strip. One was too far away to include in the picture.

The resident female was safely out of the way on the nesting island with her two cygnets and an unwelcome Grey Heron.

The male was down the lake at Peter Pan but showed no sign of challenging the intruders. More than once in the past a single pair of swans has dominated the whole lake. It might happen again.

Cardoon flowers in the Rose Garden attracted a lot of bees. There was a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee, a probable Vestal Cuckoo Bee and two Honeybees on this one.

The tree people were trying to eradicate Oak Processionary Moth on the clump of oaks next to the Queen's Temple. The toxic caterpillars have already pupated, but there might be a few left so protective clothing is in order.

A dead tree near the Serpentine Gallery has had a succession of largish mushrooms on the top. Before this it had Oyster Mushrooms on the side of the trunk, and these may adopt a more conventional shape when they don't have to grow sideways.

Five Little Owls

Five Little Owls appeared today. At the Round Pond the female ...

... and one of the owlets were in the horse chestnut tree they favour at the moment.

At the Serpentine Gallery the female ...

... and an owlet, their only one I think, were in their usual lime tree.

Later the male showed up in the nest tree ...

... and started calling.

While I was here a male Chaffinch which I have seen before came out on a twig and chirped crossly at me for getting too close to his family.

A Magpie beside the Long Water was looking very worn and tatty, while its immaculate and still slightly fluffy offspring perched above it.

A Robin in the bushes behind the Lido accepted a pine nut I threw to it.

A Grey Heron posed elegantly on the dead willow by the Italian Garden.

The Great Crested Grebes on the Long Water were fussing around their nest, but annoyingly no chick would stick its head out although I filmed for several minutes.

I did get a still picture showing the top of a little stripy head showing for a moment on its parent's back. Better luck tomorrow maybe.

On the near side of the water the two Mallard ducklings were still in good order.

The dominant Mute Swans from the Serpentine, with their five cygnets, seem to be making a power play on the Long Water. They had advanced up to the Vista. Here is the mother with the young ones touting for food.

I couldn't see the resident swans at this time. Later I saw that they had parked their two cygnets in a well hidden spot under s weeping willow, and from the Italian Garden I was able to get a long shot of the male near the Vista, who was having a faceoff with another male.

But note that in this picture there are two adults at the water's edge, presumably the pair from the Serpentine, and the resident male is busking with another intruding male. He is going to have to assert himself to retain his dominance. He is not nearly as aggressive as the old Long Water male, the former mate of the present female.

Toxic blue-green algae encrust the edge of the Serpentine for hundreds of yards.

I pointed this out to the staff at the Lido. They said that they had had the water tested and were waiting for the results tomorrow before deciding to shut down the swimming. Only an 'expert's' word will convince them of something that is howlingly obvious.

Almost certainly grebe chicks

The male Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery was moving around in the nest tree, and appeared briefly at the top.

One of the owlets at the Round Pond stood on the branch in the horse chestnut tree where all the family go to keep out of the wind.

An Egyptian Goose occupied the top of their nest tree.

The male Peregrine on the barracks was in a huddle and wouldn't look round. You can tell he's the male of the pair because he has a brownish front -- though that's only a feature of this individual and not of male Peregrines in general.

A brief sunny spell lit up a Robin on the willow near the bridge.

A young Grey Wagtail hunted up the edge of the stream in the Dell.

A Magpie perched on the dead willow near the Italian Garden.

A Jay waited to be fed on the peculiar spongy bark of the Lucombe oak in the Flower Walk, which is a cross between a turkey oak and a cork oak.

The pigeon-eating Lesser Black-Backed Gull was eyeing possible prey from the water ...

... until he was moved on by a Mute Swan. Not even this ferocious bird can stand up to a swan.

Three male swans tried to dominate each other on the Long Water.

The Great Crested Grebe on the nest opposite Peter Pan had its wings raised as they do when they have chicks on their back, though I couldn't see any little heads peeping out.

A Moorhen's enormous feet allow it to walk on a mat of algae on the water surface, but when it stops it slowly sinks in. It got too close to a Coot with chicks and was chased off.

The geese that arrived to moult in June are being surprisingly slow this year and many of them still can't fly, so large flocks of Canadas and Greylags remain in the park.

A young fox in the Dell groomed, stretched, yawned and loped away.

An Essex Skipper butterfly perched on a thistle in the clump at the foot of Buck Hill.