A distinct feeling of spring today. Here are some green and pink male alder catkins growing on the same twig as last year's black female catkins, which have already produced their seeds between the scales and dropped them, in the same way as a pine cone.

There were Chaffinches, Greenfinches and Goldfinches all singing around the lake -- and none of them coming near enough for a picture. By way of compensation, a Goldcrest near the Serpentine bridge paused for ten precious seconds to preen itself, allowing some steady pictures instead of the usual snatched shots as the little bird flits restlessly about inside an evergreen tree.

There was another Goldcrest near the waterfall in the Dell, one of the family that lived in the bushes before the gardenders had a mad hack attack. There are still a few sparse bushes lower down the slope, though they don't give much cover. A Wren was there too, and dared to come out to the lip of the waterfall where the small birds often used to come to drink and bathe. But it will take years for this stripped area to get back to normal.

Yesterday I met someone who had come to photograph Red Crested Pochard, so I directed him to the Serpentine island where they congregate. But there was not one in sight. Today I went past and there were three strolling about on the near side of the island. I don't know whether these birds actually fly in and out, or whether they just disappear round the back of the island where we can't see them. For such a conspicuous duck they are rather elusive.

They are not native birds, and their ancestors were brought here from southern or eastern Europe as ornamental waterfowl. However, they are beginning to go feral. In 2010 they bred on the Long Water and, despite the gulls, managed to fledge four young.

The Bearded Tits were in the reed bed at the east end of the Serpentine. When I came past they were too far away for a picture. But they have given us a fantastic show, and it would be wrong to be greedy for more.