The parakeet invasion

A Carrion Crow rummaged in fallen leaves in the Dell looking for insects and worms.

Blackbirds are now sadly rare in the park, even when the winter migrants arrive. But there has been a pair in the Dell for years, always so far managing to breed successfully.

Wherever people start feeding the invasive Rose-Ringed Parakeets, these birds eventually drive out the native birds from that area. This has already happened at the leaf yard, where a shrubbery full of four kinds of tit, Robins, Wrens, Chaffinches, Nuthatches, Song Thrushes and Jays became a mono-species desert, and eventually had to be fenced off because the feet of hundreds of parakeet feeders had churned it into a swamp. Now people are feeding these screeching pests in the South Flower Walk, which is the best place for seeing small songbirds in the whole park, and soon the same thing will happen here. There are signs telling people not to feed birds, but no one pays any attention to them, and indeed the more signs are put up the less notice people take of them.

The Robin at the edge of the Rose Garden had given up trying to make itself heard over the din from the Wasteland, and was singing quietly to itself. I'm sure it would have turned the volume up to 11 if it had seen another Robin approaching.

A Blue Tit examined the bark of an oak near the bridge.

A Great Tit came out of a Portuguese Laurel at the bridge, which was flowering at an odd time of year.

Ahmet Amerikali found a Green Woodpecker in the grass on Buck Hill.

The Little Owl at the Round Pond stayed in her hole. But any sight of an owl is welcome.

Every time I photograph one of the Pied Wagtails hunting along the edge of the Serpentine I get at least one shot of a bird picking up a larva. They're remarkably skilled at finding tiny creatures.

The male Peregrine was on the barracks, with no sign of his mate as long as I was there.

Another picture from Ahmet, a fine shot of a Grey Heron doing a zero-zero landing on a post, wings arranged for maximum drag, feet extended. This skill in precise flying is something that Cormorants notably lack, and they have to come down in the water and jump on to a post, or on to a chain and climb up from there.

When a heron stands stock still on the small waterfall in the carefully planned landscape of the Dell, I often hear people wondering whether it's a plastic ornament. Then it moves and they are surprised.

But a lamp post overlooking the bridge would be an odd place to put an ornament.

Nothing happens in this video, but the remarkable thing is that a Lesser Black-Backed Gull was managing to stand on one of the plastic buoys at the Lido as long as it was careful about balancing. It's just smaller and lighter than a Herring Gull. If a Herring Gull were to try this, its extra weight would make the buoy tip up and it would have to jump off.

The second pigeon-eating gull kept an eye on a Feral Pigeon that was walking dangerously close to it. The pigeon realised its error just before it came into grabbing range, and flew off.

A pair of Mallards made a wake under the bridge.

A Gadwall pair came over to dabble in the shallow water at the Vista.

A flock of Pochards rested under a yellow tree on the far side of the lake.