Still more Grey Heron chicks

There's a fourth brood of Grey Heron chicks on the island. The nest is below the third one, which you can see at the top left of this video with two of the young herons in it -- although mostly out of the nest now, they are still returning to be fed. The third young heron flew into the lower nest, causing three new chicks to stand up and jump around. 

I'd seen adults standing in this nest but had no idea there was a sitting bird, since it disappeared completely into the deep nest. The chicks too can't be seen unless they are reaching up.

I haven't seen Pigeon Eater or his mate since 18 April and am beginning to get worried about them. Nor have I seen any of the familiar pigeon carcasses on the edge of the lake. A pair with bright yellow feet appeared at the Triangle and I thought for a moment that it was them, but it wasn't.

There was also a single male with dark eyes. Perhaps this is a survivor of bird flu, though the occurrence of dark eyes after flu has only been definitely seen in Gannets. The bird was obviously healthy and could see (flu can blind geese and swans), so if it did have the flu it's recovered and no longer infectious.

It's still possible that Pigeon Eater's mate is nesting out of sight on the Dell restaurant roof, and that he has been away hunting for food for her. That corner of the lake remains free from other gulls, which is usually a sign that he's around. Sean Gillespie took a picture of a Herring Gull dozing on an unsusually visible nest on a roof at Walton-on-the-Naze.

Before it started raining the Little Owl at the Round Pond could just be seen on her usual branch inside the lime tree.

A Carrion Crow perched on the memorial bench to Alan Rickman in the Flower Walk, looking uncannily like him in his role as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films.

A yew tree was thickly infested with Rose-Ringed Parakeets.

The Flower Walk is close to a main road, and a Robin had to raise its voice to be heard over the traffic noise.

The pair at Mount Gate came out for pine nuts ...

... and so did the ones on the north side of the Rose Garden.

The tatty Blue Tit here is looking even more dishevelled. It may have a serious infestation of feather mites, which all birds have but usually manage to keep down by preening. It's active enough, and whizzed around me when I was trying to photograph it, at one point landing on the camera. Of course it got a pine nut.

The male Blackbird came out for some sultanas.

A Starling at the Italian Garden had won a chip from the snack bar.

A Pied Wagtail caught a midge beside the Serpentine.

A Coot wondered whether a length of rope would be a good addition to a nest.

An Egyptian Goose stood on a roll of straw in a fountain pool in the Italian Gardens. There is a theory that putting straw in the water acidifies it and keeps down algae. Straw has already been put in without the least effect, but the park management operates on the principle that if something doesn't work you should do it again.

It's a shame the weather was so dull for the VE day flypast, and for the first time there were no Spitfires or Hurricanes. But the Lancaster banked in a turn over Hyde Park so there was an unusual view of the upper side.

Hawks, Typhoons and Swifts.