A wet day on the Serpentine doesn't bother a Red Crested Pochard.

The Little Grebe on the Round Pond is even more waterproof.

It may seem odd that such a fluffy bird should stay dry when diving, until you realise that when it is in diving trim, its outer feathers are clamped down, compressing and covering the fluff. If you look carefully at a Little Grebe diving, you can see it becoming smaller an instant before it submerges.

The eight young Egyptian Geese on the Round Pond are still in good order, and their parents were leading them over the newly laid tarmac to browse on the grass.

(I am deliberately not calling them 'goslings'. The Egyptian Goose is somewhere between a goose and a duck, and its nearest native British relative is the Shelduck.)

The young Grey Wagtail was searching for insects among the autumn leaves at the Lido.

The unattached Mandarin drakes at Peter Pan are still hoping to seduce the solitary female, but she stays close to her mate and he jealously defends her honour.

The abandoned Coots' nest near the Italian Garden makes a good fishing platform for a Grey Heron.

A proud moment: this young Great Crested Grebe, alone at one of the wire baskets near the bridge, has just caught a fish by itself.

The male Little Owl was sitting out in the rain in his usual place in the nest tree.

One of the Tawny Owls was also just visible in the beech tree next to the pair's nest tree, but too obscured by leaves to make a picture possible.