The Mute Swans at the Italian Garden do indeed have cygnets, four of them.

There is one unhatched egg still on the nest, which may be a dud. When I arrived, the female swan had just taken her new brood for a little swim, and was settling down again on her nest. They all wanted to go under one wing. But with a bit of shuffling, she managed to get two comfortably under each.

The new Great Crested Grebe family was in front of the Serpentine island, but so far I have only been able to see one chick. The earlier family at the other end of the island still have three, as I saw when they were being fed.

There was a pair of Reed Warblers in the reed bed west of the Lido, where the Bearded Tits were seen earlier this year. The male was singing his clattering song, and the female flew briefly over the top of the reeds. Last year, a pair of Reed Warblers managed to breed in the very small patch of reeds just the other side of the bridge. Today's place would be a better one.

A Grey Heron has started hanging around on the terrace of the Dell restaurant. Having been given food by a few people, it has become remarkably demanding. Here it is pushing its luck with a surprised customer. It did get some food off him.

It was the day of the monthly bird count, and I was delighted to be able to include a Little Grebe again, seen diving around the fallen horse chestnut tree in the Long Water. These birds have not been seen in the park for a while, and I was thinking that the lack of suitably small fish had driven them away.

There were remarkably few gulls compared with the large numbers only a few days ago. I saw four Lesser Black-Backed Gulls and just one Herring Gull. The Herring Gulls that hang around Paddington Station nearby are said to breed in the locality. It is likely that this is the same population as we see in the park, and that the two Herring Gulls that sit on the fish stall in Church Street Market are also part of the family.

Greylag Geese are flying to the Serpentine to find a safe place to moult their wing feathers -- well, a fairly safe place, given the irresponsible behaviour of dog owners. This unusual-looking goose is newly arrived. It is presumably a Canada-Greylag hybrid; note the typical grey feet. But it is a peculiar brown colour, unlike those of either of its parents.

Coots are known for their eclectic taste in nest furnishings, but this one has gone farther than most by adding a whisky bottle and a baseball cap to the ensemble.

The nest is at the outflow of the Serpentine, and this picture was taken from the parapet looking straight down on to it.