The Bearded Tits have made a welcome return to the reed bed near the Diana fountain.

It seems that yesterday's move was just an excursion. Maybe they were looking for another source of food, which they have found; or for some more of their kind, which sadly they have not.

A friend said, 'Well, can't you get them mates?' He is an aquarist with a fine collection of koi, and if he wants more he orders them online. Sadly, there is no site for ordering Bearded Tits.

Beyond their monastic life in the reeds, there were signs everywhere of birds thinking about nesting. In the shrubbery on the east side of the Long Water a pair of Robins were sitting together without trying to murder each other as they usually do. A Grey Heron has been standing in a new nest on the Serpentine all this week ...

... and there is now another heron in one of last year's nests. The very productive heronry on the island in Regent's Park must be getting quite crowded now, and we are getting the overspill.

Egyptian Geese, spreading even more rapidly, are finding new places. A pair have taken over the top of the fountain in the Dell, where they have been for several days.

This is partly the result of destructive gardening, which has opened out the little pond, once framed with attractive bushes full of little birds that came down to bathe and drink. Now it is a stark expanse of bare earth, and these great gawky creatures have moved in instead. I like Egyptian Geese, but don't want them everywhere.

A pair of Ring-Necked Parakeets in the leaf yard were wrestling for ownership of a peanut.

Only the female (on the left, with a ring on her leg) will come down to take food from people's hands. Then the male tries to grab it from her.