Worms galore

Six Redwings rushed around under the trees on the Parade Ground among the pigeons and squirrels, looking for worms. I'm not sure what the attraction is for the pigeons and squirrels, though there are also lots of gulls also hunting worms, of which there must be a vast quantity made easier to catch by the destruction of the grass cover.

A successful Redwing. The returfing operation is spreading sand on the bare soil to improve drainage, but no doubt the worms will surface through it.

At the foot of the Parade Ground by the bandstand a flock of Long-Tailed Tits passing through the treetops ...

... brought two Goldcrests along with them. All were too high for a good picture, but it's interesting to see what a Long-Tailed Tit flock will attract as fellow travellers. This includes not just other tits but also other small warblers such as Chiffchaffs.

A Great Tit sang in the top of a hawthorn near the Rose Garden. They are popularly supposed to sing 'Teacher, teacher' but in fact there birds have individual songs of between one and eleven notes.

The male Chaffinch in the Rose Garden enjoys catching pine nuts thrown up in the air, just like the one in Kensington Gardens. This behaviour must be instinctive in birds that can catch insects in flight.

A Magpie looked out from the dense blossom of one of the cherry plum trees here.

It was a Jay at Mount Gate that several years ago invented the trick of snatching peanuts in flight from people's hands, which has spread to Jays elsewhere in the park. But the current Jays here haven't learnt it, and will only take peanuts from the ground.

This is the bold Robin at Mount Gate who will come to your hand.

Our one and only Grey Wagtail was on the edge of the Serpentine by the Triangle car park. It has been in the park ever since it hatched, and probably doesn't know that there is a colony of Grey Wagtails on the edge of the river near Chelsea Bridge, from which its parents came.

The edge of the shrubbery by the Triangle offers Egyptian Geese a wide variety of edible plants, and they enjoy grazing there. However, there was a sad incident a few years ago when a brood of Egyptian goslings ate something poisonous here and all died within minutes.

A lone Egyptian was standing on the edge of the Diana fountain. Probably this is a male whose mate is nesting in a hollow tree here, which has been used by Egyptians before.

The Egyptians at the Round Pond have managed to keep their last gosling alive for another day ...

... despite the unusually large number of Herring Gulls on the pond.

Black-Headed Gulls chased one which had got a bit of food from the Lido restaurant terrace ...

... where the killer Mute Swan had brought his family over to beg.

Several Buff-Tailed Bumblebees were feeding in a Chinese Barberry bush next to the bridge.