All today's pictures are a bit murky, as the air was full of dust blown here from the Sahara, veiling the sunlight in a rather creepy way.

The young Great Black-Backed Gull was on the Long Water again today.

It seems to be the same one every time, as does the adult that also visits the lake regularly. The species may be called Larus marinus, but these birds seem to have given up marine life for an easy diet of Feral Pigeons and restaurant scraps.

Moorhens are well known for eating everything, but I had never seen one eating willow leaves before.

This is one of the pair that nests in the tree near the bridge. There is also a Coots' nest at the bottom of the tree, and the Coot had just chased its upstairs neighbour into the branches.

Some other Coots in the Serpentine were also going for the vegetarian option.

The local Zoroastrians have just celebrated New Year, Nowruz, when people grow little clumps of herbs as a symbol of spring. At the end of the celebrations they throw the plants into water, and there are quite a lot of them floating around the lake.

Nearby on the lake shore, a Carrion Crow was enjoying a bath.

One of the Kensington Gardens Jays took a peanut from me and stared suspiciously at the camera.

The bushes around the Long Water are full of singing Blackcaps, which I vainly attempted to photograph. They are very difficult birds indeed, mostly hidden inside the foliage, and the moment you raise the camera they are off. I also missed the female Little Owl, who rushed into her hole in the chestnut tree when I was still 50 yards away, but at a later visit she stood her ground for a few seconds and I managed to get a picture. The male was also seen with her before I arrived.

The male Tawny Owl was seen in his usual place this morning, but soon went in and had not emerged when I passed his tree on the way home.