Green Woodpeckers at the Round Pond

A Green Woodpecker, one of a pair, perched in a lime tree. This picture was taken at sunset and I am surprised I got it at all. The tree is one used in summer by the Little Owls at the Round Pond and they have often been photographed them in it.

The owl herself was in the horse chestnut on the east side of the nest tree. This picture was taken at midday, but she was still in the tree when I came back later.

The Wigeon was not far away, stepping out briskly to keep up with the wandering Egyptian Geese.

A Jackdaw trotted over the grass. There are a couple of dozen by the pond at the moment, all demanding peanuts.

A Jay was also applying at Mount Gate. I am getting through peanuts at a great rate and buying them in 25 lb sacks.

Several Great Tits at the bridge wanted their daily pine nuts, and this one erupted from a Burning Bush and whizzed past my ear to remind me it was there.

I was hanging around this place because the flies on the fatsia bush had been joined by a very late Honeybee which I was trying to photograph, which the constant interruptions from hungry birds made difficult.

The Robin at Peter Pan, poking about under a tree behind the railings, also expected service. The odd thing on the right side is an old bracket fungus, probably Ganoderma resinaceum.

A Blackbird dug in the fallen leaves under one of the old chestnut trees at the edge of the leaf yard.

The Grey Herons on the Serpentine island were definitely thinking of nesting again. This is a perfectly usual time for them to nest, and indeed all the herons in Battersea Park nest in December and hatch their chicks around the New Year. This is the top nest halfway along the shore side of the island.

The upper nest at the east end was also occupied, with the heron's mate on a branch above.

The lakeside is busy on a Saturday, and the bathing Starlings kept having to move along the edge.

Feral Pigeons were also bathing. You can see the trails in the water from the greasy powder on their feathers.

And so were a pair of Egyptian Geese.

An Egyptian drank from an urn in the Italian Garden. The urns, intended to have plants in them, have drain holes but these quickly get blocked and the urns fill with rainwater, which birds prefer to the water in the lake.

A young Great Crested Grebe was fishing under the parapet.

Its parents, relieved of three and a half months' constant feeding duty, could relax and were cruising up the Long Water together.

Cormorants perched on a fallen Lombardy poplar by Peter Pan.