The long grass on Buck Hill, which was full of grasshoppers and crickets, has just been mown, as it is every autumn. It is now covered with Carrion Crows and Magpies.

Presumably most of the insects are still there, and it doesn't matter to the birds whether these are alive or dead. The crows had been able to forage in the long grass before, since it was hard for them to walk in, and had had to be content with trotting up and down the edge and reaching in to try to grab an insect.

One of the crows had a go at perching in a rowan tree to eat the fruit, but the twigs were too thin and flexible to give it a foothold, and after a few seconds of struggle it gave up and flew away. Magpies, which are a lot lighter, can manage quite well in these trees.

A Great Crested Grebe from the nest on the fallen poplar in the Long Water came up to the bridge carrying the two chicks.

You can tell from a considerable distance that a grebe has babies on board, because when it raises its wings to make a space for them this exposes its white secondaries, which make a diagonal line against the brown background.

The two other chicks on the Long Water were visible at a distance, and the two eldest chicks on the Serpentine were up at the Lido with their parents. Here is the family of three from the reed bed at the east end of the lake. As the father approached with a fish, it was that crucial who'll-get-it moment.

It was the chick in the middle that got the fish.

While this was going on, one of the male Mute Swans felt like a bit of bullying, and chased its victim right out of the water, pecking at its tail when it fled.

Oddly, the beached swan returned to the water in a few seconds without trouble, and the bully swam off to find a new victim.

The Hobbies are still here, but didn't give us a photo opportunity.