Bullies bullied

A rat in the Dell was harassed by the Magpie family and fled, but then the Magpies were ousted by a Carrion Crow.

Both the Coal Tits came down from the big yew tree to take pine nuts from the railings.

A flock of Long-Tailed Tits worked through a clump of hawthorns near the Italian Garden ...

... with other birds following, including this Blue Tit. The tree here is a cockspur hawthorn, with ferocious spikes.

The female Little Owl at the Serpentine Gallery could be seen in a lime tree.

There was also a pair of Little Owls calling north of the Flower Walk again. Unfortunately you have to go to the end of the walk to get roung to the north side, and by the time I arrived in the area they had fallen silent and I couldn't find them. There are a lot of old trees with holes here, a suitable place for owls.

A Grey Heron perched on the gate of the Lido in front of the green flag awarded for a well managed park. Unfortunately nature laughs at management, and the Lido is closed because the water is full of toxic cyanobacteria.

A Cormorant ousted a Herring Gull from a post at the island ...

... and jumped up.

This one in the Italian Garden brought up a fish in a large bundle of algae. It struggled to separate the fish but failed, and the fish escaped.

I photographed Cormorants on the fallen poplar at the Vista, but what the picture mainly shows is the large number of Pochards. The Common Pochard is is serious decline and Red listed, but we seem to get more every year.

Among the Pochards at Peter Pan, the Moorhen chicks could be seen to have grown well.

The Coots at the bridge were back on their nest after a heron had given up using it as a fishing station. The nest has never been successful, but they stick tenaciously to it and it's their home.

All six Great Crested Grebe chicks were all right. I didn't see the three at the island, but Sato did. The single one was in the middle of the lake, making a tremendous racket but not doing anything worth a picture. Here are the two on the south side of the island, with their father bringin them a fish. It's a pity that they have to be photographed from so far away.

The nest on the island has been occupied by a Mallard again. It doesan't matter, the grebes don't need it any more.

Two Red-Crested Pochard drakes in eclipse cruised past. In this state they have exactly the same plumage as females, but their red bills and eyes show what they are.

Egyptian goslings are surprisingly good at diving and swimming under water. Here they are doing it for fun, but it can also help them dodge aerial predators.