There was an organised gang of 11 cormorants working its way up the Serpentine, a sight I haven't seen for a couple of years and a sign that fish stocks in the lake are recovering (unless the Cormorants eat their way through them). They were diving so often that it was impossible to photograph them all, but here are six of them.

In the background you can see stacks of components of the Olympic stand, which is being taken down fairly efficiently and should not leave too much of a scar -- unlike the total devastation caused by the London Live Arena at the east end of the park.

Also in the Serpentine, five young Mute Swans were doing a bit of synchronised swimming.

A Ring-Necked Parakeet reaching for a peanut lost her footing and hung upside down from the branch in an undignified manner. It took a while for her to hoist herself upright. Parakeets are less agile in trees than smaller birds, and often have to grasp twigs with their beaks to climb about.

But one of the Carrion Crows who come to be fed by the Peter Pan statue showed remarkable dexterity in being able to pick up three pieces of digestive biscuit at once. She had taken a whole biscuit from my hand and thoughtlessly pecked it to bits before she decided to carry it away.

I say 'she', but who knows. The crow who started taking food from us was assumed to be male and was called Charlie, and this is his mate. They have two young crows hatched this year, who also hang around the area in the hope of food.