There were at least thirty people feeding the Rose-Ringed Parakeets at the leaf yard -- it's half term and they are bringing their children. Things are beginning to get a bit out of hand. The parakeets are turning quite aggressive if not promptly fed, and often biting people.

These children had found a good way of not being bitten, by putting a small pear on a stick.

Some parakeets were clustering around a large hole in a tree. Perhaps they will be using it as a winter shelter.

Another was in a yew bush eating berries.

The crowd had also attracted eight Jackdaws hoping for food. Two were looking very decorative on a maple tree going into its brilliant autumn red.

The others, unfortunately, were all over the Little Owls' chestnut trees, and had already chased one of them into the hole when I arrived. Later the female owl called from the oak tree where she was yesterday, but it was impossible to see her.

Both Nuthatches ...

... and both Coal Tits were coming down to take food from the leaf yard fence.

A few Goldfinches could be heard twittering in the treetops. There are never very many in the park for some reason, although they are commonly seen in the streets around. Tom got a good picture of one in a holly tree.

On Buck Hill a Jay was pecking open a spiky chestnut seed case.

The young Grey Heron was on a plant raft next to the Dell restaurant. Although the fence around the raft is almost two feet tall, it could reach down to the water to have a drink.

The white Mallard, his mate, and the drake that is now part of the ménage à trois cruised past.

One of the teenage Mute Swans is very aggressive even by swan standards. Here it is shooing off an adult which must have had a much higher rank in the social order.

The arbutus flowers attracted a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee. Evidently they contain useful amounts of nectar, and that is why the parakeets were eating them yesterday, preferring them to the insipid fruit.