A pleasant sunny day, and more signs of the arrival of spring. A pair of Wrens were chasing each across the Flower Walk, and so were a pair of Long-Tailed Tits. I also saw one Long-Tailed Tit on the ground under a bush, a place they go only when they are searching for the thousands of little feathers they need to line their intricate nests.

A Greenfinch was singing near the Serpentine bridge, where I just managed to get a very distant shot of him.

There was also loud drumming from a tree north of the Albert Memorial where Green Woodpeckers nested last year, but when I got there it was a different tree and a Great Spotted Woodpecker -- I am not sure if you can tell the sounds of these two species apart. Here is another excessively distant shot of him hanging nonchalantly upside down from a branch while he searches the bark for insects.

Last year's Green Woodpecker hole in the nearby tree looks deserted, but I am keeping an eye on it. The damage caused to the tree by the birds' excavation has allowed a large bracket fungus to grow above the hole like a black porch.

The Feral Pigeons were up to their usual tricks.

The male's pouting, tail-dragging display accomapnied by enticing coos may seem irresistible to him, but the female pigeon always look unimpressed and tries to leave, which is made more difficult by the male waddling round and plonking himself in front of her the better to appreciate his pouting. This female did get free, only to be pouted at by a different male. So she went and stood in the water at the edge of the lake until he went away.

The last survivor of the Egyptians at the Round Pond is still there.

It looks very runty, although its wings have grown straight. I don't think it's ever going to be a fine figure of a bird. It was chased twice by a dog which some fool had let loose and was running around in an ecstasy of bloodlust, so it went and joined its parents in the pond.