Sad Egyptians

A Green Woodpecker probed the grass at the edge of the lawn under the Henry Moore sculpture, looking for insects and larvae. They also hunt insects in tree bark, but spend more time on the ground than Great Spotted Woodpeckers.

A Wood Pigeon in a nearby oak tree reached for acorns and, as expected, leant down too far and lost its grip.

A Long-Tailed Tit paused in a sweetgum tree at the back of the Lido.

The Coal Tit in the Dell lurked in a bush before dashing out to grab a pine nut from the railings.

A Blue Tit in the Rose Garden stared impatiently, wanting to be fed.

This Robin at the Queen's Gate crossing in the Flower Walk is so immaculate that it must be one of this year's young ones in its first adult plumage.

The Robin at Mount Gate has grown new feathers after breeding but still looks slightly tatty.

Pigeon Eater doesn't always catch his prey, far from it. I filmed him trying twice unsuccessfully to sneak up on a Feral Pigeon, and then he nearly caught one but it struggled free.

Sad to say, the Egyptian Geese in the Italian Garden have lost all their goslings in one day, probably mostly to Carrion Crows. They were sitting on the edge looking thoroughly depressed.

It was in the Italian Garden that the first Egyptians arrived in the park almost thirty years ago. The pair never succeeded in raising a single gosling, and their only surviving offspring was one that strayed away and was fostered by another family. It just isn't a good place for Egyptains, though the Coots do very well here.

There is better news about the old and scruffy Greylag on the Serpentine, U561. He has been taken to the Swan Sanctuary where he can live out his last days in peace. He was shunned by the other geese and always alone, so he has lost no friends in the move.

The two Great Crested Grebe chicks from the east end of the Serpentine island were practising diving for fish in the shallow water at the edge. I don't think they caught anything, but this play is essential for developing their skills.

Cormorants nearly always eat the fish they catch at once, but this one at the Vista decided to play with it and nearly lost it to a swooping Black-Headed Gull.

I looked for the Mexican Grass-Carrying Wasp in the ivy hedge behind the Lido but couldn't find it. However, there was a Comma butterfly in almost immaculate condition ...

... a Buff-Tailed Bumblebee ...

... a Common Carder ...

... and a Eupeodes luniger hoverfly, showing the quarter moon markings which give it its name.

The broken Lombardy poplar at Peter Pan has been cut down in the usual half-hearted way to save the cost of removing it. Peter Pan is supposed to be one of the park beauty spots but the waterfront is now flanked by two ugly ruins of poplars, the ground on the south side of the statue is a mess of logs meant to attract insects, and the area is backed with a hideous sheet metal fence which the plants can't conceal.

In contrast in Hyde Park the exotic trees in and around the Dell are looked after carefully. These are the strange pods of a Japanese Pagoda tree, Styphnolobum japonicum.