On a drizzly day with few people in the park there was plenty of spring activity to be seen. The Nuthatches in the old chestnut tree in the southwest corner of the leaf yard have at least one fledgeling, which was parked on a branch while its parents fetched insects for it.

There was a young Robin under some bushes near the Lido.

Robins' speckled juvenile feathers are so beautiful that it is almost a pity when they change into their adult red-breasted finery.

There was just one Coot chick with its mother next to one of the small boathouses, looking as pathetic and ridiculous as only a Coot chick can.

Probably its siblings have been taken by the numerous Herring Gulls.

Inside the same boathouse, the pair of Coots that were evicted when the boats were removed have built another nest on the wooden platform. While I was taking a rather dull picture of the nesting Coot, she sat up in alarm as a fighting Canada goose chased another inside, yelling furiously.

They rushed out as quickly as they had come and continued their quarrel outside.

A pair of Mallards on the Long Water have four ducklings, subject to the attentions of the gulls. The father is the sepia-coloured drake I photographed for yesterday's blog post. One of the ducklings is rather light-coloured, but this often happens and is no guarantee that it will look like its father.

The Egyptian Geese on the Serpentine which I photographed two days ago with eight young are now down to five. They are not looking after them well, allowing them to wander off by themselves, and some Herring Gulls sitting on moored pedalos were eyeing the chicks hungrily.

However, this new brood of ten near the Lido was being guarded very well indeed, with their mother constantly calling them and their father chivvying any stragglers to keep up with the others.

In the Flower Walk, a Song Thrush was collecting mud from a puddle to make a nest.

The Tawny Owl was in his usual place, more visible than yesterday but also made indistinct by the dim misty conditions.

House Martins are beginning to arrive on the Serpentine. I got a very brief glimpse of one flying over the Kuwaiti embassy, where they build their nests in the cornice.