Nick sent me photos of a tree in Abbey Meadow, near the children’s play area, that has been stripped of its leaves by caterpillars. It is the only tree that has been attacked.

Silken sheets are visible between twigs, with many caterpillars living inside. They leave their protective tents to feed and return afterward.

The trees trunks are also surrounded in silk. Here is one caterpillar outside the silk, and inside — near the trunk — a pupa within its cocoon.

More swans than usual gather near the Wilsham Road railing, where people throw bread to the birds. I counted ten today. Someone I spoke to had counted fifteen another day. In past years, a breeding pair drove others away, but they are absent this year. Without them, juvenile swans gather.

I watched two moorhens with five chicks cross the river.

They passed in front of three swans. One swan tried to peck at a chick.

A moorhen flew at the swan and the swan thrashed away in surprise. The other moorhen led the chicks into cover.

Without the breeding swan pair, the balance has changed this year.